The Old Version of Violet Version
by Atramentua
Summary: Going to be rewritten! Expect the first chapter sometime in April 2009.
1. These Are Our Protagonists

**Violet Version: Kanto Chronicles**

**Author's Note: **Greetings, hello, salutations, and welcome to my story. When I first got LeafGreen for my DS I've been meaning to write this fanfic, but it's taken a year's worth in the works. This story stars an unusual girl named Violet, who has no idea what on earth she's doing in her journey, and has been paired with a Charmander who dislikes her for her eager stupidity and only views her as a means to an end. As the story goes on, more characters will be introduced.

I used to write fanfiction in when I was much younger, and thus less experienced at writing. I came to Mediaminer in hopes of starting over with a clean slate, and I will NOT stop at this story and make sure that every chapter is at least satisfactory. I thank whoever has stumbled upon this story and have bothered to read this boring introduction.

**Disclaimer: **Oh, and I don't own Pokemon. There, now I have successfully avoided the legal wrath of any lawyers or agents from Nintendo who are prowling the Internet… but Violet Ariel Amaranth is –my- character, and even though you'd be completely crazy to plagiarize her, I'm putting this up regardless. The personalities of the other characters—the main Pokemon characters, that is—are mine, too.

**Chapter I: **These Are Our Protagonists

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"_Let's have some new clichés."_ – Samuel Goldwyn **(1882-1974)**

"Wake up."

A man's voice split the silence like a well-sharpened knife, dragging through reality to sever every tie she had to dreamland. The final, cloud-laced fiber came loose with a muffled mumble, coming from beneath a pillow firmly pressed against her head. "Jus' five more mi…" she gave up in the middle of the statement, coherency drifting off before it was consumed by snoring. She was roused back into wakefulness by a very loud grumbling sound that earned a humanistic snarl in return that really just sounded more like a poorly-concealed attempt at clearing mucus from her throat.

The man wasn't amused. The crunching of grass followed a very loud, almost rumbling round of the clearing of a throat, once again arousing the girl from her sleep, this time for a longer period of time. A stocky, scruffy figure moved restlessly for a moment, perturbed by the crushing of the foliage. Yawning, the figure's hand groped unenthusiastically for the zipper of the sleeping bag that encased her. When her fingers finally grasped it, she pulled it down and peeled it back, slowly exposing her steadily emerging body like a butterfly's cocoon. She sat upright for a moment, gnawing on her lip, and then fell back onto her disheveled sleeping bag, grabbing the fallen pillow and pressing it against her head.

Finally, Oak was at the end of his rope. Sighing, he said the only thing that would draw the girl out from her pyramidesque sanctuary. "Wake up and come out NOW, Violet," he began, sounding as stern as he possibly could, "Or perhaps I could call your parents over to deal with the situation?"

She needed no further encouragement. The shadow, fueled by this threat, sprinted out of the half-split shell of her sleeping bag and dashed over to what served as a door inside the fabric chamber. With a frustrated rustling of fabric, the silhouette broke through as she folded the entrance back. Half of a body poked out, slightly bent over from falling on her knees in the scuffle. Exposed to the light--one green, one blue-- blinked wearily up at the sun. Almost like a vampire, she—the girl named Violet--hissed and withdrew until only her head poked out of the tent.

The curt clearing of a throat rallied her attention, tilting her head upward. Her face was round, like the rest of her chubby body, sort of a light tan in skin tone, and crowned with a moptop of windblown, boyishly cropped blue hair that poked out at every imaginable direction. Freckles spotted her limbs and her cheeks, cluster after cluster of them, somehow accentuating the cute features of her face.

Nudging a few errant bangs out from her eyes as she craned her neck up, they landed squarely on the taller, older man's red tie. They remained there for as long as possible until they inched their way up, being purposefully slow as though in some last-ditch effort to prolong some imminent doom as much as possible. Violet had gotten to his Adam's apple when he cleared his throat one last time, a sure sign that for once, this person, in a very rare occurrence, had lost his patience. Finally her gaze leapt to his, propelled by that solemn sound.

He was probably old enough to be her grandfather, but besides the pronounced lines wrinkling his tanned skin around his face and his white hair, he showed no other sides of aging, as, remarkably, his hair was only thinning in the slightest bit. For someone who was standing outside at daybreak, he seemed rather familiarized to it, even though obvious annoyance was in his fatherly features.

Giving his best 'You're in big trouble young lady' disapproving look, he stared down at her as she just gazed in return, her expression one of a deer trapped in an eighteen-wheeler's headlights.

In the face of danger, all she could do was give her best, obviously forced, cheerful smile of 'Hi Please Don't Kill Me'-dom, showcasing yellowing teeth framed in purple-capped braces. "Well hey Professor Oak," Violet said boisterously, the right side of her face twitching rapidly, "What're you doing up so early?"

Not once did the man's stern facial expression falter, much to her dismay.

"Wondering what on earth you think you're doing camping out on my front lawn," he replied in complete deadpan. "WHAT on Earth do you think you're doing?"

The girl blinked as though this fact was news to her before craning her body around to view as much of her housing as possible. Yes, it was definitely a tent. With her inspection over she chuckled nervously, a hand reaching around to drum against the many rivets in the flap. "Well you see," she started, "You know the family's pet Politoed, right? Oh yeah, cute critter, but when I turned my back on him, WHAM." To make her story more dramatic, she slammed her fist on the ground, crushing a patch of grass and scaring away a curious ladybug that had scuttled too close, "I get thrown out and he makes a TENT!" She gesticulated wildly to the tent around her, looking as flustered as a 13-year-old liar with no considerable acting talent could. "But not just any tent! It was made out of the neighbor's Golduck! In order to survive, I needed to use the Golduck-tent, 'cos it had fortified the whole house…"

She took the following silence as a sign that her clever excuse wasn't working. Coughing fakely into her hand, she quickly muttered, "A moment of silence for the Golduck." Then she shut up, hoping Oak's intellect would lapse for a brief enough moment for her to evade having a punishment.

Unfortunately for her, no such thing happened. Oak didn't buy that excuse for a second. "Do your parents even have the slightest idea of where you are?" he pressed onward, climbing his was through the more important questions.

Violet guiltily scratched behind an ear with a freckle-pockmarked hand. "I left a note," she said sheepishly. And that was all she said, as she removed the hand from its hunt for dandruff to scratch at and reached inside the tent, groping around near the fabric-laden floor.

She finally continued, albeit with a tone more distracted than it once was, "They, uh, won't be around for a few hours. You know. The Politoed and all. I think it ate my parents. So you don't have to call them. Or anything at all. Really."

Oak stared down at the girl, shaking his head in disapproval. "That DOESN'T justify anything," he watched the shadow of Violet's hand through the tarp move around, grabbing at things laying around that he couldn't make out. "And—" he gave another good look at the tent as he turned his body around to take in its details, simultaneous to when Violet triumphantly reappeared, clutching a worn, enormous panama hat decorated with dozens of badges of varying sizes, shapes, and colors.

Violet happily pushed the hat on her head, weighing down most of her more aerodynamic bangs that weren't trapped inside of it. She was utterly blissful, for the moment, completely unaware of the world and the presence of others by that simple thing, but her joy of being reunited with her beloved headgear didn't last long when what was left of her in the tent crawled out and stood up.

As she shakily tried to balance her still-fatigue-frozen body, Oak continued his interrogation, starting at a more pressing question that would answer a few questions—most of them stemmed by his curiosity from the unusual behavior that Violet was so notorious for in Pallet Town.

"WHY are you camping out here, in the first place? No jokes, no lies, no nonsense, Violet, or I call your parents," he held up his hands and punctuated the beginning and end of his following phrase sarcastically, "'Politoed' or not."

The blue-haired, heterochromia-eyed girl waved her arm frantically as she tried to grab something for leverage. She didn't answer until her fingers were safely wrapped around one of the poles used to keep the tent upright. "I didn't want to be late," she said simply, turning and angling her head so the askew panama hat would slide back into a proper position on her head.

Oak's eyebrow crooked. "Late?" She was getting more confusing by the second.

"Yes, late," Violet countered, staring over at his lab. Her most dominate fixation was centered on the PokeBall—a spherical, red-white object with a button in the middle—emblazoned on the front of the large building, the biggest structure in Pallet Town. "Don't you remember what happened last time? I arrived LATE, and there wasn't a single Pokemon for me to choose."

Oak sighed and rubbed at his forehead, annoyance pronouncing his wrinkles like deep, shadowy divots in his skin. "Yes, I remember what happened last time and I understand your enthusiasm, but—"

His words seemed to fall on deaf ears, either from zeal or from obliviousness as the girl, still clad in her unusually sized, Harry Trumanesque hat that was now cocked forward, insinuating determination that was in her heavily exaggerated march, and her pajamas—an oversized t-shirt and short pants. Sighing for the umpteenth time that day, Oak pursued her, shouting out a protest toward the girl as she trudged toward the lab.

"Violet, wait!" he snapped, dashing after her as she casually pushed open the door and entered the lab. It swung right behind her, cutting off Oak's entrance with an abrupt, metallic slap.

Cursing lightly under his breath, he continued his chase, running after the girl. He spotted the girl's silhouette in a glass window near one of the doors, and frantically chased after her. Violet was standing near a highly complex series of capsules, all of which contained circular, rotateable rows with round depressions in them, perfectly aligned. There were dozens of these, lining the white-washed walls. The whole room was bathed in white light shining from the fluorescent lights overhead, leaving no shred of darkness unbanished, making the various machines, including the rows of capsules glisten.Violet was carefully examining the control panel, looking rather focused for someone who had no idea what they were doing. Oak dashed past the girl, who hadn't noticed his entrance, and over to the open capsule. Releasing a breath of air that quickly dissolved in the bleached light, he pressed a series of buttons on a panel near it. The shell of the capsule neatly clasped around the curve of the machine, closing off all inside it. Violet let out a disappointed 'awww'.

"Violet," Oak said, trying to sound neutral, "Did you see anything unusual about that container you saw?"

Violet thought for a moment, scratching under her enormous hat. Finally, with a victorious look on her face, she pounded her fist into her the palm of her hand. "You forgot to clean it," she said as a matter of factly, much to Oak's utter shock. "I think I saw a cobweb back there, even! How shameful." Violet shook her head chidingly, looking suitably disgusted.

Shaking his head and sighing yet again, he pressed another button, re-opening the capsule with a hiss of metal. He drew out a pencil from behind his ear, twirled it so the eraser faced the myriad of buttons, and punched in a few with it, light filling the insides of the buttons. One by one, they triggered the opening of each shelf, capsule, and any other manner of containment units in the room. They all had one thing in common, and that was what Oak was looking to show to Violet.

Violet stared at a metal-plated slot in the wall that had lifted to reveal a long series of rows, indented in the same way as the capsule was. Turning her head to get a better look, and count off the hollows in the machine. After a little bit of searching ranging from up-close to faraway in range, she noticed that all of them were the same. Oak noticed the recognition in her face for a moment, and braced himself for the reaction.

Once again, Violet just turned around and stared blankly. "I'm not following you," she said dimly.

Frustrated, but not undaunted, Oak charged toward one of the many capsules in the room. He pointed with his pencil toward the rows of indents, counting them off to punctuate his words. "See these? They're used to hold PokeBalls. More specifically, the PokeBalls of a Trainer's Starter Pokemon," he jabbed his pencil at the depression, which was, indeed, vacant. "There's nothing in them."

He turned around, circling his arm to point at every container in the room, Violet's eyes following the pencil. He withdrew after he stopped at the last one, and looked at the girl. "Do you know what this means?"

Violet's eyes were locked on the capsule that Oak had used for his demonstration. Thoughtfully, she gnawed on her lower lip, looking incredibly thoughtful in every detail of her face, yet unreadable at the same time. Resting the back of her hand under her chin, her eyes never wavered from the machine, using it as the centerpiece of her thoughts as her eyes combed it up and down, intently staring at the indentations as she remained tethered in deep thought. Off to the side, Oak stared at her, waiting for her revelation, and hoping that it wouldn't upset her.

The tension in the air fizzled out like an old lightbulb when Violet's face took on another victorious look, quite obviously proud of her conclusion. "You brought the balls outside to clean them!" Oak's eyes widened at this, and at how sure of herself she looked. "Because the machines were so dirty! Seriously, what self-respecting PokeBall would want to spend their time with the SPIDERS—"

At long last, Oak lost his patience, and just decided to end it there and then. "You're LATE, Violet."

Violet's expression died on her lips, joy dying, crumpling up into a little, abysmal ball that sizzled into nothingness in the pit of her suddenly miasmal, viciously acidic stomach. Her eyes widened in disbelief. She spent a few seconds, just flapping her lips mutely, her lips forming the vowels but never letting them free. In her search for something to say, she finally squeaked, "_Excuse me?"_

Oak felt absolutely terrible at this point, but it was best she faced the music. "You're late," he repeated, trying to make heads or tails of Violet's unreadable expression in the midst of the guilt.

Violet's face shapeshifted beyond dumbfounded lack of acceptance to that of pure protesting shock. "EXCUSE ME!" she exclaimed, "How the heck can I be late? I slept outside in a freakin' TENT!"

Oak spared a glance at his watch, which proudly displayed, "11:45 PM", judging by the hands pointing to the corresponding letters. He decided not to comment on the matter as he unfurled his sleeve over the clock, making sure it was perfectly hidden. He had an idea about how Violet arrived late, despite her precautions, which he was turning over in his head like a spiritual flapjack.

**_Earlier that Morning: _**

_On the backyard of the lab, where the terrain that served as the sanctuary for Pokemon transferred over to him, as well as wild Pokemon, Oak stood. Admiring the peace that hung gently in the air, suspended by the purple-tinted clouds that swirled a soft lavender around the rising sun, he smiled._

'_It's not too often you get to enjoy this.' He thought, sipping a cup of coffee. 'It gives you the sort of feeling that nothing could go wrong.'_

_Nothing whatsoever._

_Then, suddenly, the silence was shattered like a frail mirror, by, specifically, a low ringing. That too, was overwhelmed by a much more vile sound--the sound of banging, crashing, the screech of metal succumbing under a heavy weight, and an almost cartoonish sound as its insides combusted_. _Nearly dropping his coffee, and now scared out of his wits, Oak stared back and forth, searching for the source of the sound. He found nothing._

_Still in shock, his eyes shifted to the side nervously as he fumbled with his cup, taking one last sip. 'Maybe a machine in the lab backfired,' he thought, then nodded at this thought. 'Yes, maybe a machine backfired. I, uh, better go check.' Then he ran through the back door like there was no tomorrow._

_Meanwhile, Violet had almost finished trying to set her demolished alarm clock on fire._

But it was just a hunch, really.

He found himself feeling nervous, even slightly guilty, until realization smacked him like a baseball bat. He blurted out, "But, I just remembered. I have two more Pokemon left." At this news, the downtrodden-looking Violet perked back up—even the bangs of her hair and the sagging brim of her hat seemed to revitalize with the girl, making her restoration look almost like a resurrected flower.

Her eagerness had returned, the girl hopping from foot to foot excitedly. "Well, what're you waiting for?" she asked, looking around the lab in search of the container that held what would have been her potential partner.

Oak trudged over to another, smaller container close to his desk, one that had been neglected during his button pushing. He pressed the button that would unlock it, and the dome-like casing folded back, revealing two round forms, arranged in a pyramid inside it. Scooping up both of them, he walked out of the room, gesturing for Violet to follow. She did, until they ended up at a table at the front. Oak rested each PokeBall on its surface, allowing the overjoyed Violet to take a good look at the balls. They were an unusual color for standard PokeBalls, even though their design was nearly the same. One had an emerald green luster to the upper half of the ball; and made up of a transparent material that Violet was able to see through to. Inside, the resting form of a small, dinosaur-esque creature with a bulb growing on its back was curled up peacefully. The other was a cerulean blue, and like the other, Violet could see a creature in it, this one resembling a little blue turtle. Both of the balls had serial numbers etched into the lower part of the ball, codes that Violet couldn't decipher if she tried. She had more pressing matters as she looked between the balls in her hands, trying to make out the forms clearer through the color.

She was left with one question as she turned her neck around to stare at Oak, eyebrow raised, once she had successfully determined their species. "Where's Charmander?" she inquired, still struggling to get a better look at Squirtle in between her valid question.

Oak answered in a heartbeat, making it obvious that this question had been asked to him many times before, or at least enough to give him some practice. "Charmander is a very popular Pokemon, Violet. Every year they get snatched up, just like that," he snapped his fingers for emphasis, then noticed the look of sadness on Violet's face. "What's wrong?"

Violet looked up, waving her arms, PokeBalls still in her speckled hands. "Nonono, it isn't you," she said, sounding far too morose to come across as apologetic. In a poor effort to conceal her disappointment and her saddened expression, she glanced mournfully over at the PokeBall containing the dormant Bulbasaur. "It's just Charmander is my favorite Pokemon. I was really looking forward to getting one."

Oak couldn't help but feel sympathetic. He was by no means a spiteful person, not at all. In Pallet Town he was renowned for his kindness, and service toward Pokemon, their Trainers, and people in general, donating to charities and organizations that were dedicated to helping Pokemon. In this case though, it seemed like there was nothing he could do for her. She would have to wait for another year.

He couldn't bring himself to say this news. Both were locked in silence, with no help of escaping as Violet set the balls on the table with a simultaneous _'clunk'_ from both. "Thanks anyway, though," she said plaintively, yet appreciatively, as she made sure they wouldn't roll off the table. "I guess I'll see you next ti—"

The sound of a door opening broke the morose atmosphere of the room, followed by the clicking of clawed feet against flawless linoleum floors. Violet's eyes widened past limits where it would be very painful to try, but she didn't even utter a squeak of pain as she watched what she had been waiting for meander into the room, wielding a broom resting against his shoulder.

He was obviously reptilian---maybe even dinosaur-esque--and small in stature, but still a foot or so taller than his species' standard. At the tip of his long tail a flame flickered, casting an orange glow to the shadow beneath it. The Charmander took special care not to drag his tail, keeping the flame hovering off the floor self-consciously, lifted in a smooth curve of his upright tail.

Scratching at his neck, he casually said, in clear, perfect English, to Oak, "Hey Prof," he said, deep, sea-green eyes focused on the doctor. His back was turned to Violet, who was too busy gawking to say something that would garner his attention. "Do you know where the dustpans are? The containers are getting really dusty, I swear I saw some cobwebs back there—"

What remained of Violet's rapidly diminishing self-control just keeled over and died right there and then, swallowed up by the enormous, bubble-gum maw of imaginary dragons, lollipops, and all that was positive in her mind.

The Charmander's speech was cut off by a high-pitched, girlish squeal. As he whirled around to face wherever the sound had originated from, he only had five milliseconds to prepare before the source had pounced, like a tiger on the hunt. Violet lunged at him and wrapping her arms around him, squeezing him as tightly as she could as she struggled to lift him into the air. The Charmander was at first too stunned to resist, but by the time he saw Violet and had pulled himself out of his shock, he started jabbing at her ribcage with his elbow, striking at every available spot in search of something—a button, even—that would have her release him.

"You're a Charmander!" Violet cried gleefully, ignoring his efforts to escape (even though they ranged from being inventive to completely brutal) as she squeezed him like an overjoyed child would their new toy, "It's YOU! It's really YOU! Holy crap, this is TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE!" At the end of that sentence, she hugged him even tighter, much to the discomfort of the Lizard Pokemon.

"YES!" The Charmander snapped once he had snatched his breath back despite the constriction of his lungs in her arms. His tail slapped at the ground warningly, scattering harmless little glowing embers and sparks that dissolved quickly on the floor."_YES,_ I _AM_ a Charmander, and I thank you for being so astute." His tone was nothing short of sarcasm as he continued, "As if I needed any reminders about what species I am."

Violet couldn't hold him for forever, especially since her physical capabilities were severely lacking. Lifting the Charmander had been somewhat painful, since he was nearly her height, and his fighting against her grip didn't help anything. How she was able to keep hold of him amazed even her. The wily Charmander instantly took advantage of the slightest lapse in her grip and broke free, skittering across the floor and staring at her distrustfully. Quickly picking up his broom off the floor, he edged toward Oak, who was watching the whole spectacle thoughtfully, and snarled at Violet, eyes emerald slits and teeth bared threateningly.

"Jesus Christ," The Charmander hissed, waving his broom like a weapon in front of him, poking it fiercely at Violet as though she were a dragon and his broom were a sword. All cower before the fearsome Violetsaurus Rex, destroyer of towns and kidnappers of princesses, Violet instinctually envisioned. "Do you have ANY concept of how to greet people? ANY at all?"

He got no response beyond the confused tilt of the head by Violet.

Oak finally took the moment to intervene and grabbed him by the shoulder, pulling him closer to him and out of a range where he could easily burn Violet to a crisp. The Charmander just folded his arms and glared at Violet, whose eyes started to narrow in retaliation once she noticed the wisps of smoke rising from his nostrils. Even though he was likely at a level where he couldn't breathe fire, especially not to the magnitude that would seriously injure someone, Violet took a few steps back. She was quickly appreciating the fact that Oak was restraining the Charmander by a hand on his shoulder—he could probably break free, but he didn't regardless.

Oak cleared his throat harshly, watching their pupils dart in his direction, showing that their attention had been grabbed, despite the fact their postures didn't change in the slightest. "That's enough of acting like children, thank you," he said, glaring disapprovingly at both of them. Jax looked sheepish from this scolding, as brief as it was, while Violet, who was quite used to it, just folded her arms petulantly. "I don't believe you two have met before, so let me get the introductions out of the way, so long as you can keep yourself from attacking the other."

He pointed to Violet. "Violet, this is Jax," then he pointed to Jax. "Jax, that's Violet."

He looked away from Jax and to Violet, patting him on the shoulder, "Jax has been my lab assistant for twelve years," Jax looked rather smug at this statement, maybe even like a soldier, with his broom positioned upright and his tail coiled on the ground in perfect posture, save for how he casually leaned against the firm broom.

His eyebrow was perched high over his eye while the other crooked down against the other. He was inspecting her, looking into the eyes of a girl who could only stare blankly, curiously at him with an almost animalistic quirk of her head, this time to the opposite shoulder than before.

Jax hardly seemed enamored by the girl. It was screamed through his eyes: his opinion of Violet had already been shaped, solidified, and been doused in cement without any sign of change. "Charmed," he said dryly.

Violet could feel the sarcasm drip from that single word like molasses, and instantly understood the low opinion he had forged for her. Straightening her neck and glaring, she countered with a sardonic, "Lovely to meet you," as she nursed the soreness that flared up from where Jax had elbowed her.

_Dagg, that Charmander can hit hard, _she thought, removing her hand from the aching spot. She reminded herself to get a bandaid when this endeavor was over. She then she turned to Oak and asked, "And he's the only Charmander here now?"

Oak confirmed this with a nod.

Violet looked at Jax for a moment, both Pokemon and girl staring each other down, like they were trying to convey 'I don't like you' and absorb every little thing that made up the person at the same time. They remained focused for a split second, in an unenthused staring contest, but in reality they were judging each other, picking out flaws to hold against the other, and examining qualities that could benefit them, or alleviate their sour opinion of the other one. Violet was the first to break it off, turning toward Oak with a look of rock-steady, yet ecstatically enthusiastic conviction on her face. Her ceaseless staring had only been met with the solid reminder of his beloved species.

Pointing toward Jax, she asked, "Can he come with me?" When she somehow thought that they were going to immediately answer 'no' from the slightest twitch of Oak's eyebrows, she clasped her hands together and whined, "Pleaaaaaaaase?" Complete with the precocious, well-timed sparkle provided by the incandescent lights, another angle of her head, and the bat of her sparse eyelashes.

Jax was immediately outraged by this, turning his head skyward to glare up at Oak defiantly. "She has GOT to be kidding me," he hissed, "Prof, don't tell me you're going to listen to her."

Oak didn't reply yet, he was immersed in thought once more, but still keeping a scrutinizing eye on Jax in case he decided to follow up on his nonverbal threat of torching Violet. His attention extended to both diminutive figures. Jax, who apparently could keep his face in the same expression for long periods of time, kept glaring at him, disbelief in his expression beyond the protesting. The idea of going with a trainer appalled him deeply.

One party, that of a Violet Amaranth, looked hopefully up at him, an expression of 'Oh please God say YES' etched in her features, feigning adorableness that was rapidly running dry to milk her way. The other, that of a Jax the Charmander, seemed hopeful as well, only for an entirely different reason. His expression screamed of 'Oh GOD don't let me go with her' from every pore from his orange skin.

At long last, from switching glances for both to both, Oak tapped Jax on the shoulder to get his attention, and leaned down so they were as close to eye contact as they possibly could. Despite this, Oak, even when crouched, surpassed him by a few inches.

He turned his head over to Violet. "Could you do us a favor and exit the room for a moment, Violet?" he asked, much to the befuddlement of the girl, "Jax and I need to discuss something."

Violet just stared at him for a moment, but succumbed regardless. Pivoting around on her heel, she turned and wandered back to the door that led to the PokeBall room. "Alright," Violet said nonchalantly, crossing her arms behind her head, "When ya need me, call me, I guess."

With that, she strutted toward the room in complete silence, save the idle whistling that trailed behind her path. The remaining two waited until they heard the telltale click of the door sliding into place, and for the whistling to stop, before they got to business. For five seconds you could hear a pin drop. Those figurative five seconds ended with something much louder.

Naturally, Jax was the first to shoot his mouth off, "What the heck do you think you're doing, Prof?" he demanded, "Don't tell me you're going to listen to her!"

His mentor only sighed and did his best to explain, "It's not so much of what Violet wants, but what's in your best interest," he explained, and started to continue, but he was cut off by Jax, who snapped in return.

"My best interest? By traveling with HER?" Jax's anger reached a fever pitch at that point, like he considered being in the girl's presence to be a terrible moral offense. Considering Violet's lack of intelligence and unusual quirks, it probably was to someone like him. "Oh, won't that be lovely. I can learn so much from her, I can tell," he said with fake ardor, "Like how to come close to breaking every bone that makes up your ribcage, for one." For emphasis, he delicately rubbed the contours of his bruised ribcage through the skin.

A set of hands grabbed him firmly by the shoulders, grabbing Jax's attention away from his seething anger and onto more important matters, where he would hopefully remain planted in until Oak was finished. Oak looked at him sternly, eyebrows accentuating his forehead as they lowered, "Don't you remember, Jax?"

Jax just stared at him, either not understanding or not wanting to even bother with entertaining this, in his mind, worthless waste of his time. Part of him though, was curious, as he illustrated in a raised eyebrow. Petulance or not, he did nothing to break free from Oak's gentle grip despite the fact he could, quite easily. Some part of him had discovered the answer, but it was swallowed up by the grand majority that just wanted to bury it and be done with it.

"You said you wanted to evolve," Oak said delicately, sidestepping any other issues that there were to this—they were laying beneath the surface of the deceitful waters, just ready to pounce.

Bulls-eye.

"Answer me," Oak urged, sounding no longer harsh to gain Jax's attention, but gently coaxing him toward the truth. Go for the light, Jax, go for the light.

Jax stared sheepishly down at the floor, nodding numbly, unable to meet Oak's gaze.

Hardly satisfied with Jax's non vocal answer, Oak pressed forward, not wanting to risk hurting any feelings. All that mattered right now was for Jax to make the connection so both Violet and Jax could benefit from this. "And ever since you've come here, you've always spent your time indoors, too uncomfortable to venture out into the world and train. Earn experience. It's only by training that you can evolve."

Jax stayed silent through his speech, wincing whenever Oak managed to strike at the truth and bring it to the surface. He felt the hands on his shoulders again, and he couldn't help but look up at him as Oak continued, sounding more compassionate than firm in his probing, like he understood the sensitive ground he was treading.

"Jax, if you go with a trainer—in this case, Violet—she can help you evolve. I'm not the young trainer I used to be anymore, and no immediate trainers will come around until a year. This is your _chance,_ Jax." He pointed to Jax's upper chest, right in the center. "Seize it."

He then gave Jax an encouraging smile as he withdrew, waiting for a change in expression in Jax's unreadable features.

Jax didn't seem very persuaded as the subject of Violet came up, but he submerged himself deep in thought nonetheless. Oak had spoken the truth, and he couldn't avoid it. His greatest ambitions were only obtainable by a trainer, and he had chased away trainers who were interested in him before. Closing his eyes, as he fought with conflicting emotions and decisions, he signaled his victory with a sigh that released him from the emotional chains that kept him anchored down. He opened his eyes and looked into that of Oak's countenance with a small smile that betrayed his irritation for the girl who was waiting for them.

He seized it.

"Okay, I'll go with her," he conceded, "But under one condition."

**---**

Violet slumped over, cradling her head in her hands. Beneath the chair she sat on her feet swung pendulously, completely out of sync with one another and the creaks that emitted from the chair. Using the creaks to tick away at each passing second had become a habit for her during the immeasurable amount of time she had spent pacing, trying to listen through the door, and poking the doorknob with one of Oak's pencils she found under the desk.

'_They're sure taking a long time there,'_ thought a bored-out-of-her-wits Violet. Groaning, she slumped a little bit more, completely burying her head in the tanned palms of her hands. _'I dunno. That Jax guy seemed like a real jerk. But isn't it always like that when trainers start off with their Pokemon? Heck if I know. I mean, it happened in that cartoon I saw, with the Pikachu—'_

A click, precluding the turn of a doorknob, had evaporated her thoughts the moment they wandered off their tangent. Violet instinctually turned around, eyes hopeful, expression gradually growing both appreciative and apprehensive. Appreciative because she was tired of playing 'I Spy' with herself, and apprehensive because she had no idea what had come out of Oak's meeting with his sardonic Charmander friend. Speak of the devil; Jax entered the room at Oak's side, seriousness engraved in his reptilian face. Oak however, looked somewhat neutral, yet accomplished, so Violet thought of that as a good thing. She and the Charmander stared each other down again. Seafoam green met green and blue, and continued to remain laced between the lance of lightning crackling between them until Jax finally spoke.

"Okay," he said, with a sigh of resignation, "I'll come with you."

Violet's jaw nearly unhinged itself so it could hit the floor. Brilliant happiness whirled up inside her as she registered what he said over and over and over again. _Omigod omigod omigod omigod omigod… _To Hell with any previous second thoughts about Jax's personality, she was getting a CHARMANDER! For a moment she felt like leaping up on the desk and dancing when the happiness surged and overflowed through her body like a torrent of glowing yellow, but it had died when Jax spoke again.

"BUT," he said, dragging Violet out of her victory dreamworld kicking and screaming, "I'll only stay with you until I evolve."

Violet, who had barely adjusted to reality after her rude return, felt the happiness pop inside her like a balloon impaled on a cactus, leaving goldenrod residue splattered around her insides. Eyebrows raised incredulously, she blurted, "WHAT? That's completely BOGUS!" She was instantaneously opposed to Jax's ultimatum, and she could hear a few levels of her subconscious—the rare few shards of her mind that didn't reject the idea of Jax's admittance as her partner—argue adamantly in rapid-fire defense.

Jax didn't say anything; he just folded his arms and glared her down, her mental battle fading on the spot. Violet looked to Oak as though to protest, but the look on his face told her that this was the only way to have Jax join her. No matter how many times she tried to destroy it, qualms about wanting to recruit him always came slithering back, spawned from his bad attitude.

'_Maybe I can throw him out the moment I catch a new Pokemon to replace him,' _Violet thought, nearly sniggering at the mental image of her picking up and literally throwing Jax back to Pallet straight from some abnormally long distance.

The mental image didn't last long, because her focus had to drift back sometime, and it happened to choose that moment. As much as she wanted a Charmander, she wasn't sure about Jax's attitude. Maybe they could actually get to know each other over their journey? What if they actually became friends? The perfect example of a trainer and her loyal Pokemon?

That would be the day when droves of Snorlax would rain down from the sky.

Violet shrugged and rolled her eyes, ignoring the venom behind the glare. Jax seemed even more reluctant to accept Violet as his partner as Violet did for Jax. "Ah, whatever," she muttered, "You've got yourself a deal."

Much to Jax's shock, she straightened her posture and stood up from her chair, languidly stretching her arms. Swiveling them a bit in their sockets, she looked down a few inches so her gaze would meet his equally. After a few moments of silence, she finally held out one of her hands, waving it expectantly in front of Jax's torso, like she were urging him to lift his own hand. This was much to the protests of a thousand screaming voices and consciousnesses clustered in her mind, criticizing her behavior. Not one of these voices approved of Violet's independent situation, which reacted from impulse alone.

If they were going to be partners, they might as well cement the relationship classically.

Predictably, Jax only stared at it in confusion, eyebrow a smooth curve over his eye. "You SHAKE IT," Violet insisted, speaking every syllable with deliberate slowness, like she were trying to teach a backwards toddler instead of a Charmander who seemed to understandably not want anything to do with the unusual adolescent.

She was already wondering what on earth she had been smoking to make her feel compelled to try this.

Jax growled. "I KNOW," he responded in the same, belittling tone, seizing her hand like he was trying to prove his intellect. _See?_ asked his smug expression.

The intertwined digits tensed against one another, as though they were both resisting the urge to slap away the other's hand the moment the torture was over.

Both had managed to resist the all-too irresistible desire that was quickly mounting to force a smile toward one another, almost simultaneously. One's smile looked like they had nearly choked on something. The other's looked like they had just seen something totally repulsive and were trying to hide their disgust. They spent as long as they could to delay the inevitable, Violet cursing her decision to shake his hand, and Jax cursing his own decision to follow her.

Neither of them moved in the slightest, despite the fact they were starting to squeeze each other's hand so violently that the popping of the bones were audible enough to be mistaken for miniature fire crackers going off inside their flesh. The forced grins on their faces were twitching erratically—if they didn't look genial before, now they looked like they wanted to rip the others' arm off and beat them with it.

"You shake it."

"You're the one who offered this, YOU shake it."

"If I suggested it then YOU should do it. Pull your own weight around."

Even when their unofficial deadline was finally up, their hands didn't budge, both badgering the other on to initiate the handshake neither of them wanted any part of. Meanwhile, the professor who kept scrutiny over them let his head fall into his hand as he fearfully wondered what he had unleashed on the world.

_**Chapter I: Finished…**_

_**--**_

**Afternote – Reviewing: **I'm not gonna sugar-coat it, flames are annoying. But if you have something constructive to say, please say it—I want this story to be the best it can be, and sometimes I need you guys' help to make it so.


	2. With Heroes Like These

**Disclaimer: **Sorry to disappoint you, I still don't own Pokemon. Just Violet, and the characters' personalities.

**Chapter II: **With Heroes Like These

--

"_Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results."- _**Andrew Carnegie**

"We're lost."

Violet, now no longer dressed in her pajamas, and instead in incredibly mismatched, Pokemon-oriented clothing of obnoxiously bright colors, glared up from her map. "We're not lost," she insisted bitterly, staring back down at the map clenched in her hands. Scowling at a particularly confusing, jumbled mass of intertwining roads, text, 'you are here's', and tiny illustrations representing trees and dangerous pitfalls, she tilted it over in her hand, head mimicking its angle. "I just… I'm just having trouble reading this."

Right behind her, standing on a tree stump, was Jax, craning his body over her shoulder so to get a better peek. "You sure you're not holding it upside down?" he inquired, raising an eyebrow.

An annoyed Violet sighed, then moved the map out in front of her, so she could properly inspect it in full view. Her eyes combed it briefly before she responded, already sounding frustrated, "No."

Jax sidestepped to the right, occupying Violet's other shoulder with his intent gaze. "You didn't buy it from some shady dealer?" He pressed on.

Violet sighed again, lowering the map. Her face was fixated in an almost blank, irritated scowl. "No," she said, firmer than before. The more she looked at the map, and the more her efforts to shut Jax out of her peripheral hearing and vision, the worse the start of a horrible headache started to encroach on her thoughts. Some part of her wondered why he even bothered asking her, his eyes looked narrow enough to penetrate through flesh and bone all the way to the map.

Jax remained silent again, thoughtfully pacing in small circles around the stump—it was large in circumference, the remains of a freshly-cut massive tree. Violet savored the silence in all its brevity, returning to examining the map until she heard the sound of fingers snapping.

Shoulders sagging, Violet awaited the next question. Behind her, his voice asked nonchalantly as he twirled his tail like a fiery baton in his grip, turning it into a flaming pinwheel, "Did you buy the directions in Spanish?"

Violet opened her mouth and turned around to glare at him face-to-face, half-ready to both shout curses at him and strangle him, until the thought completely registered in her mind. A thoughtful look came across her face, sedating her. Glancing back and forth, as though she were trying to make sure there were no other witnesses to her humiliation, her eyes returned to the map, which she hunched over protectively. After a moment of looking it over, she stared back up, totally befuddled.

"Well," she said, blinking. "This explains a lot."

Jax nearly unintentionally imitated the fate of the tree that used to occupy the tree trunk. In his shock, he managed to balance himself before he fell, then sighed, rubbing miserably at his temples. "Wonderful. Just wonderful. So we're stuck in the middle of nowhere, and we're undoubtedly lost."

Violet seemed very offended by this statement, even as she folded up the map and slipped it into her backpack--out of sight, out of mind. "Hey, let's not jump to conclusions here," she spread her arms wide and gestured to their surroundings, looking as confident as she could be despite the fact they were, indeed, in the middle of nowhere.

More specifically, they were in the middle of nowhere IN Viridian Forest, the only way to get to Pewter City by walking that didn't involve using any conventional Pokemon abilities. Foliage, trees, bushes, you name it, it was growing there, in every single nook and cranny of the forest, creating an emerald blanket of leaves above in the canopy of the forest, and below, on the forest floor. Slivers of green-hued light were the only evidence of daylight through the impenetrable wall of leaves, and were the only things to aid any travelers struggling to navigate through the labyrinthine forest.

Example number one: Violet.

"Move over for a second," Violet said to Jax as she ushered him off the stump, regardless of any incoming answer, "I need to think." Not wanting to acquiesce to the more brutal road of pushing and shoving, Jax rolled his eyes and hopped off on his own accord, leaning against a fully intact, youthful tree covered in pockmarks of spongy moss.

"Oh, good luck with that," he said, and started idly pacing, making sure his haphazard tail-flamed skillfully avoided anything flammable in the forest—and such things were plentiful here.

Watching a Caterpie waddle by, he idly noted that the forest was completely overrun with the population of Bug Pokemon. Easy picking for a Fire Pokemon, and they knew that, so most of the smarter Pokemon kept their distance.

Behind him, Violet took her seat, resting her cheek against her fist. Jax heard nothing from her besides ruminative humming and the grass crunching beneath her sandle-clad feet as she shifted her position every so often. Jax decided not to say anything as he protected his tail, instead entertaining himself by the marching rows of little Pokemon skittering by, and into the giant patches of tall grass. Finally, he heard the snap of fingers that signaled Violet had come up with something that she had deemed intelligent enough to announce, and he glanced over to the girl. A triumphant grin stretched across her face, her chest bloated out like an arrogant rooster.

"Eureka!" Violet proclaimed, pointing to the branches and twigs obscuring the sky above jubilantly, "I've got it!"

"Goody," Jax said, folding his arms and keeping his tail elevated, "So what's your bright idea?"

"We ask for directions."

There was a pregnant, very uncomfortable pause, which was finally broken by Jax muttering, "You know, I actually think that could work." After all, quite a few trainers prowled throughout the tall grass in the area in search of Pokemon.

His remark slapped Violet right in the face, leaving her absolutely stunned. "Really?" she asked incredulously, then shook her head in a rather futile attempt to erase the look of total shock off of her face, like it were drawn on there with marker or plastered on like make-up, "I mean, of course! It's an absolutely brilliant plan!" She clasped her hands together expectantly, grinning a wall of rows of yellow teeth, "Now, let's find someone to ask…"

--**Ten and a Half Minutes Later—**

Violet stared bitterly up into the branches of the heavily flourishing tree towering high above her, an Electabuzz notepad in one hand and a pen with a Jigglypuff bobblehead on the eraser in the other. "For the last time," Violet repeated to the tree for the fifteenth time that day, speaking very, very slowly, as though for the benefit of whoever she was talking to to understand, "Do-you-know-the-fastest-route-out-of-the-forest?"

She got no response, much to her frustration. Forehead burning a bright red, Violet almost flung her notepad to the ground and snapped her pen over her knee in anger, and probably would have gone on a small rampage not only because of the silence of her ticket out of the forest, but because she thoughtlessly decimated her only writing tools. Thankfully, she exhibited some self control, and instead just spun around, stomping her foot on the ground with a loud 'thud', and a grind of a heel into the grass that turned tiny leaves into miniscule crumbs. Jax was staring at her suppressed tantrum, eyebrow arced and his lower eyelid hiking distastefully up.

Although he knew the answer perfectly well, he couldn't help but say something to get on her nerves, "So how did it go?" he asked pleasantly, splaying his fingers before him so he could carefully examine each sharp nail.

"I don't get it!" Violet whined, slumping over in defeat. She was so self-absorbed in her vexation that she didn't keep gravity in mind (it was most likely ejected to make room for the furious, raging bitterness spreading to every point in her body), and stumbled over, landing sprawled on her stomach before she could try and balance herself. Jax winced empathetically, but despite the fact her face was pressed against the undergrowth, Violet continued complaining, "We FINALLY find a perfect resident to help us, and then he's uncooperative as all heck!"

She slid her hat down in front of her upturned head, as though defending herself from her second degradation for the day, or protecting her identity. Suddenly curious, Jax shimmied over to the tree, stepping over Violet's body as he did so, gazing up into the twisting vines of branches and the dome of leaves created over the trunk of the tree. His eyes met the dangling forms of groups of cocoon-like creatures the color of mustardy yellow, hanging from thin wires of sticky goo latched to the branches. Despite the fact they all seemed to collaboratively stare at Jax with their unblinking, opaquely black eyes, they didn't move a bit, not even crooning a deep call like most all Pokemon were capable of when they couldn't speak English. Satisfied with his discovery, he turned around and faced Violet, who had moved behind him to get a better view.

Jax grabbed the Jigglypuff pen from her balled up fist and pointed to a cocoon with it, the pink, spherical Pokemon at the end of it bobbling on its spiral wire as he jabbed it to the air. "Violet, those are Kakuna," he said, deadpan.

Violet pushed herself up onto her knees and defiantly folded her arms, "That doesn't mean they can't make good conversationalists—"

"They're MUTE."

Violet's jaw froze from that statement, only letting a bare, mumbling syllable escape from her mouth. For a moment, she felt the dreaded, embarrassed feeling of being made a fool out for the third time this day—and instead of a slap, it was a suckerpunch, sending her blasting through wall after wall of her subconscious and formerly rock-solid pride. Gritting her teeth and fighting off the feeling, Violet straightened her hat and dusted herself clean of dirt until nothing but subtle brown splotches remained. Pushing Jax aside, she grasped the base of the tree trunk, jumping her feet up onto the wood. Jax's eyes widened as she steadily ascended, scaling the tree like she had been born that talent her whole life, or raised by primates.

The idea of a Tarzan Violet WOULD have been pretty funny, Jax admitted to himself, before he quickly returned to the panic of the situation from the final fall of a chunk of wood plating.

"What the HELL do you think you're doing?" Jax snapped, looking very worried all of a sudden, "Get back down here before you get us all KILLED!"

Violet hardly seemed intimidated by this, and easily reached the top of the tree, her steps and scrapes across the bark sending down a tiny hail of chips of timber and splinters. She groped for the nearest branch supporting a Kakuna, fingers straining when her arm couldn't reach, for the slightest touch. She started leaning forward the best she could without accidentally letting go and sending her plummeting down, yet it still remained tantalizingly from her grasp, like fate kept it from being grazed in the tiniest way from her fingers.

Giving a few swipes with her arm, she called down to Jax, "Getting him down here is what I'm doin'!" she punctuated that with a small thrust of her body that allowed her fingers to barely scrape the hard shell of the Kakuna before she was forced to retract. Not long after, she was back, and with more ardor than ever, like she had shut out the rest of the world.

As Jax shouted for her to get down, she barely noticed how worried he looked, or that the blaze orange color of his skin had completely drained of vibrant hue, maw opening to shout one last, "Violet, GET DOWN HERE, BEFOR—"

Then, as though the cord holding it had been snipped with an ephemeral scissor, the wire of goo snapped, sending the Kakuna falling to the ground.

There was another, uncomfortable pause, both human and Charmander gazing at the fallen cocoon laying in the grass. Neither of them said a word.

The silence was broken by Violet, who, wearing a smug grin as natural on her as her hat did, released her branch and dropped to the ground as well, landing in a crumpled, none-too-graceful position in the grass. She sat upright, smirking at Jax, while her hand groped around for her fallen panama hat. "Ha!" Violet barked, slowly climbing to her feet with her hat in hand. She slipped it on and cocked it, her proud grin never fading. "I don't know what you were so worried about, things went perfectly—"

Once more, they were interrupted, and not by the falling of a Kakuna.

Jax and Violet slowly stared at the army behind them, ears quivering from the incessant, droning buzzing humming in the air by thousands of rapid wingbeats—all meshing together to one horrible, monotonous sound that nearly made the air itself vibrate from the intensity. Hovering in the air from the constant movement of gossamer wings were an army of wasp-like Pokemon, with spindly legs and crimson eyes, that all seemed to be constantly glaring down at the two fleshy bleedy things that disturbed the peace of their nest.

Not to mention they possessed both a massive, curved stinger protruding from their abdomen, and a pair of long, conical, needle-like blades on their arms.

It didn't take a genius to know that they were utterly doomed.

**--Two Seconds Later—**

They were off with a collective scream, sprinting until their legs hurt across the forest floor. Behind them in a mindlessly straightforward path they left a trail—a legacy of upturned grass and crunched leaves, devastated beneath sandles and clawed feet alike. Jax's arms pumped frantically until they were carrot-hued blurs, much like his quickly-exhausting legs—while at his side, Violet kept heaving and panting all the way as she struggled to stay in momentum, clutching the Kakuna from before close to her chest almost protectively. Violet wasn't used to athletic activities besides tree-climbing, so she was the most likely candidate in falling behind and becoming victim to the claws and stingers of the Beedrill first, something she probably knew, and something that nearly made her scream 'I DON'T WANNA DIE' out to the world.

Behind them, the buzzing never ceased as the pack of Beedrill darted after them through the air, expertly weaving around the nature-born obstacles of the forest that were such a difficulty to wandering trainers like they were nothing but rickety fences. They were getting closer and closer, progressing inch by inch, and during their assault, a few Beedrill would separate in tiny squadrons to fly in different directions, only to zigzag their way to angles so they could catch them off-guard. Violet could see them when her eyes dared to venture away from the incoming shapes and objects to see the silhouettes, heavily shadowed by the trees, traversing the thick, flying blurs of trunks and clusters of leaves.

What kept her heart beating against her chest like a heavily abused punching bag was that they seemed to fluctuate—to dart in just so slightly, making her step away during her running to hug Jax's side, or even go behind or in front of him from a burst or decline in speed—in size and in posture, weaving in and out.

Finally she made up her mind and, with a panicked cry of, "To hell with this!" after seeing the shadow pursuing her sideways start to break through the brush and materialize, antennae-first, she pushed her sore legs into overdrive. She sped past him by a few paces—the superior length of her legs managed to allow her to sprint at least a few inches past, making her abused muscles scream in agony. It was worth it, though, because she saw no sight of any Beedrills buzzing beside her—but what concerned her was that the sound was still as vivid as it was before. They were still prowling, and hardly discouraged from catching the duo.

Speaking of duo, there was the matter of the second member, who was now reciting every curse word in his vocabulary directed toward certain religious deities, certain abysmal amounts of luck, and even more certain blue-haired, 4'8", 13-year-olds who had all but abandoned him. One or two Beedrill came in from behind him, twining in formation like they were braiding through the air, until one got the advantage it needed and approached him in one swoop. Jax didn't dare turn his head around, but cold perspiration broke out on his scaly forehead from the quickly scaling octaves of the buzzing alone.

They were right behind him, and this was confirmed with a flash of silver, and the blurred movement of an ethereal, crystalline white, hollow blade that flew right past his shoulder and neck, barely missing him. It struck the ground, fully embedding itself into the earth, and slowly solidified itself into a texture and form that resembled the needles the Beedrills sported. The Twinneedle attack, or at least a long range variation of it. Jax didn't need to look at it to be terrified—with a yowl he leapt in front of him as another of the needles grazed his toes, and ran at full pace for dear life, Violet's fleeing form drawing in rapidly as he tried not to focus on the sounds of the needles drilling into the ground behind him.

Ahead of them lay a clearing, or at least one with a denser concentration of trees and such. Most of it was filled with tall, healthy grass swaying in the breeze, and a few trees dotting it, probably home to Flying Pokemon rather than bird ones, and one of the many pockets of nature in the thick forest that made an appropriate habitat or haven for mammals not suited to it. Some of the trees above had broken apart in the junction of leaves, letting jumbled, watercolor mixtures of green and gold beam like beacons down. Violet wasn't sure if they could find anything that was worth hiding in there, maybe—

--her eyes landed on a large tree, tilted to the side and its roots upturned, creating a cavernous maw that tangled up on a formation of mossy stones besides younger, more intact trees, and mushrooms of various sizes. It made the perfect hideout. They could dive into the cave as refuge. They could—

She saw Jax run toward her, looking pissed off enough to vocalize the fact that Violet had nearly left him to his doom, but knowing that there was a time and place for everything. Violet slipped the Kakuna under her arm like a football and pointed ahead, implying extra emphasis toward the tree-cave. Jax immediately understood, and the two kept running, taking advantage of the cease fire the Beedrill had taken. They were almost home free. They were almost safe. Good bye, Beedrill, it was fun kicking your a—

Another pinneedle went flying, impaling a rather thin tree. Much to Violet's horror, it snapped from the sheer girth of the needle, sending both halves tumbling to the ground. It was no surprise that Violet had imagined herself in place of that tree, receiving the sharp needle right through her chubby little stomach, or maybe through her eye, or her ear, or her—she nearly stopped, unable to keep herself from being helplessly swept away by the raging river of possibilities. Jax had realized that they had continued their bombardment as well, and could only bless the fact that their constant movement had thrown off their already flawed accuracy. So long as one didn't approach them from the front, they would be alright…

So when a trio of Beedrill swooped in front of Violet and Jax, wings still buzzing, they knew they were in trouble.

Just as they realized the sibilant whir of the Beedrills behind them had quickly increased in volume, the remaining Beedrill units had completely surrounded them, and they did NOT look happy. It was clear in their red eyes like they were screaming it to the world—or it could've just been the natural, frightening color of their eyes, really. But all that mattered was the sight of its numerous pointy, organic weapons that they were all focusing on their two targets, some of which possessing such impeccable edges that Jax and Violet could see their reflections in it.

_CrapcrapcrapI'MGONNADIE,_ was Violet's first thought as she squeezed the Kakuna like one of the PokeDolls she loved so much until paleness bled through her knuckles to her forearm, and branched up her fingers. For a moment she was just about to drop to her knees and beg for mercy from the violent drove, but under the opinion of the wise, that was a useless option. But when one was desperate, they were willing to do anything. They—

Even in her panic, she realized that she hadn't seen Jax through this. It was a stupid thing to think about it, but that thought, even as it was squashed flat by more important matters, was kept alive in the dormant corners of her mind where it was shoved in.

Lucky for her she learned what Jax was up to a few seconds after that thought entered her head.

The Charmander launched himself at the nearest Beedrill that was blocking his path, moving so quickly that it barely anticipated his movement from its would-be prey—and it definitely didn't expect it when Jax barreled right into the insectoid menace, sending both of them crashing into the ground. No matter how much the Beedrill's wings flapped—which kept all the more frantic until they were nearly invisible in their transparent blurs, like it would remain airborne from it—it crashed right on its back, muffling the 3'4" Charmander's own impact. Leaping off of the body, he swung his tail threateningly around, circling it toward all the Beedrill, keeping a deliberate pace.

"See this?" he asked, pressing a foot to the unconscious Beedrill's upper body, "It's called fire. Say it with me," he pointed to the flame, keeping a condescending tone, "F-I-R-E. And if you know what's good for you…"

He inhaled deeply, entrenching himself into firm concentration while he still watched them warily—they seemed to be doing the same, now focused on Jax's tailflame—and then snarled as the tailflame seemingly imploded, the plume bursting up in height and width, spraying wisps of fire and livid orange flecks. They rolled across the forest floor, quickly extinguishing before they could cause any damage—after all, they were just for show, and this was just a bluff.

With that display over, Jax found no further reason to continue the tangent he left off.

They stayed where they were, like they were weighing their options. It was obvious the idea to flee sounded more appealing than staying and fighting, despite the fact they outnumbered the intruders ten to two. However, the inherent bug-type Pokemon fear of fire won over, and slowly, they began to withdraw. It was like they were watching the two over their shoulders as though they expected for a blast of fire to strike them down and burn them to a crisp the moment they left the guard down. As their intentional lack of speed wore thin, and the low thrum of their wings started to pick up, they all sped past the group, leaving naught but disrupted leaves and grass twirling in the remnants of the wind.

--**Ten Minutes Later—**

"That was AWESOME," Violet exclaimed for the thousandth time within that time period, a look of amazement on her round face.

The two were now comfortably resting in the clearing they had ducked into, keeping their campfire on a reasonably barren patch of land close to the tree that would serve as their protection against dangerous Pokemon (or giant yellow jackets) so to avoid any accidental fires. Sitting on a log, Violet stared at Jax as he stretched out on the ground, keeping his tail centered in the fire without a single negative reaction to the flame's contact. Up above, silver intertwined with the green, fresh from the moonlight of the twilight, and its thousands of little stars in the satin sky. Such a spectacle was only visible in tiny patches, speckling the ground like incandescent mosaics, and provided the only light beyond the orange glow of the campfire.

"Listen, it was nothing," he said, voice a half-yawn, "And besides, it was just a bluff. If they were a smarter group of Pokemon, they'd probably bring my head back to their nest as a trophy."

Violet didn't say anything in return, just juggling her rather overstuffed backpack on her lap. Jax noticed this, and raised an eyebrow, pointing to it. "How's your, uh… first… Pokemon?" He couldn't find an appropriate term for it, so instead he just went for the classic one.

His choice in epithets pleased Violet, who did another impression of the 'bloated, prideful rooster' look she imitated before. The idea of catching a Pokemon so early on her journey pleased her—she liked to think that she was already escalating to the mantle of Pokemon Master. "He's doing just fine," Violet said haughtily, pulling the zipper down her backpack. Nestled inside was the Kakuna from before, as inanimate as always. Violet stroked its head affectionately, a kind expression fading into thoughtfulness. "I haven't decided on a name yet though. I'm stuck between Napoleon and Clay."

She tilted her head to Jax, quickly zippering the backpack back up. "What do you think?"

Jax sighed and stood up, stretching his arms high over his head until the joints made a low 'pop'. They were strained from all the running he had exerted before, and his legs were still sore. Exhaustion weighed heavily on his mind, even during the short trek to their makeshift haven. "I think you should think about it later… and focus on more important things. Like buying bug repellant for one."

The girl stared blankly at him, until revelation flashed in her eyes. "Genius!" she exclaimed, looking to the backpack accusingly, like he was keeping a great secret from her. "Now why didn't I think of that?"

The Kakuna did not respond.

Before Jax could slip inside the cave, Violet turned her head around to look at him, and spoke. "Hey, wait," she called, setting the backpack beside her feet.

Jax groaned and poked his head out from the mass of rocks and roots, already looking like he was ready to collapse and drift into sleep, regardless of wherever he did. "What is it?" he asked irritably, rubbing at his head. The movement of his arm was ratcheting, fatigued.

Violet shifted uncomfortably on the log before she finally spoke up, looking incredibly shamefaced. The flicker of the fire combined with the highlights of silver partially illuminated her face, accentuating the cocked edge of her mouth, made taut from drawing it into her mouth, all too exposing more about Violet's emotions than she would've considered comfortable.

"I'm sorry for leaving you back there," Violet said in a quick blurt, maybe too fast for her to sound sincere, as she turned her head away from him and frowned at something in the distance, but something about her made it seem honest, "You know… you could've gotten hurt and it was irresponsible of me, so…"

She sighed and rubbed her forehead, then opened her eyes, looking at him through her dark teal eyelashes with more truthfulness that she tried to show than before. "So…" she sighed again, and then just said, "I'm sorry."

Jax stifled a sigh and pulled back inside the cave, orange streaking the curves of the jagged rocks and masses of twigs. It was almost like a nest inside of there—and it was, since Jax had worked for a little bit to make it at least moderately comfortable. It was another reason why he was so tired.

"Forget about it," he muttered, folding his arms behind his head. "Just… do what you want. Don't set the camp on fire or anything."

Nothing but silence, save for the faraway chirping of crickets, followed his words, so Violet assumed he had nearly fallen asleep.

_**Chapter II: Completed…**_


	3. Just Like UPS, Only Without the Trucks

**Disclaimer:** I STILL don't own Pokemon. What a surprise. That honor goes to Nintendo. Oh, but mind you—the character Rory is the property of my boyfriend and partner in crime, Agz--on this site he's known as Alan G. Zendra. It's thanks to his encouragement, influence, and inspiration that I am writing this story, so to all of you who like this, go thank him. But to all of you who DON'T like this story, go bother him. Or read his stuff, trust me, you will NOT regret it.

As a response to a review who noticed that Violet acted differently in terms of intellect during chapter 1. Well Violet, while remarkably less intelligent than others, still has her moments of common sense and intellect occasionally. By the end of the story however, every character will go through their own individual developments, and it's likely Violet will too.

**Chapter III – Just Like UPS, Only Without the Trucks**

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'_All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind_.' **Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC)**

Night had passed peacefully with nothing to disturb both Charmander and Trainer's slumber in their primitive makeshift house, safe and shut out from the many predatory Pokemon (or vengeful Beedrills) by the cage of roots and rocks beneath the giant, aging tree.

Jax was the first to awaken from a flash of orange light against his eyelids, trickled in through one of the many crevices in the mounds of stone. As the sun rose past the horizon, and the soft lavender of the clouds dissolved into fluffy white, more and more tiny, lithe beacons like the ones before them followed the first one, culminating into one spade, beaming relentlessly on Jax's face.

The Charmander groaned, eyes opening wearily, and hissed instinctually and moved to guard his face as the first thing he got a glimpse of was a blast of light. "Jesus," he muttered, watching light zigzag in from all possible directions, from behind his fingers, where a more concentrated angle of beacons bristled on his skin. "Talk about God's alarm clocks."

His eyes moved to a figure a few feet away from him, curled up on a mass of tangled leaves, pieces of vines, and giant patches of moss torn from trees—a strange form of bedding akin to a nest of some sorts, which Jax was also sleeping against—a human girl, cradling her backpack close to her and with the brim of her hat pulled down over her round face. Violet was still fast asleep, and the annoyingly gravely snores that came from her every time her chest shuddered with an inhalation was a testament to that.

Jax scowled, climbing to his feet and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "Violet," he whispered, walking over to her with the barest of sounds under his clawed toes. She didn't even budge besides that she clutched her backpack tighter—its solid form was thanks to the Kakuna still resting inside of it. Since they lacked Pokeballs, Violet had to carry it by more unconventional means. Jax spoke louder, nudging at her hip with a toe, "Come on, it's morning. Up and at 'em."

His efforts were rewarded with a snore, and a drop by a faction of her head that nearly made her whole hat droop over her face.

Jax was already discouraged from continuing with this method of awakening. He wanted to get out of the forest that had caused him so much frustration as fast as possible, like he resented it for just about every bad thing that happened the day before. _Thank God all it took was a good night's rest to heal my legs, _Jax confirmed that with the slightest shuffling of his feet, which were still a little bit cumbersome thanks to his premature awakening. He spent only five seconds trying to formulate a way to arouse Violet from her slumber before his mind grabbed hold of something that he decided would work.

Bending down to the girl's head, he grabbed her hat by the brim, and whipped it off her head, her odd, aerodynamic hairstyle bobbing atop her head before it wilted in a scruffy, blue mess. That was all it took, for the moment it was removed, Violet had rocketed to her feet, looking around frantically, eyes wide, face pallid, and one hand raking through her hair like she was convinced it was hiding there among the locks of teal.

"MY HAT!" she exclaimed frantically, eyes darting to and fro, "Whotookmyhatwhere'smyfreakinghat—" She froze in the middle of her babbling, to turn around and glare accusingly at her backpack. "IT WAS YOU, WASN'T IT!" she half-shouted, sounding oddly like a persecutor in a courtroom, "I should have KNOWN! You were always giving me those shifty looks and PLOTTING BEHIND MY BACK! Well now I've caught you!" She grabbed the backpack from where it had rolled off to the side after Violet had leapt out of her seat, shaking it in front of her so hard that the Pokemon keychains decorating its straps became multi-colored blurs, "FESS UP!"

The Kakuna said nothing.

No matter how amusing Jax thought the current situation was, he decided to end it there and now. "Hey, bedhead," he said, waving Violet's hat in front of him, "Is this what you're looking for?"

Violet didn't respond to him immediately, she was too busy interrogating the Kakuna, asking questions about where he was on the night of June the eighteenth or if he knew her hat intimately. It was the almost hypnotic, collective series of clinks of the myriad of badges ornamenting her hat rubbing together that made her glance, eyes now so wide it looked uncomfortable beneath the bangs of turquoise, over to Jax. With a delighted squeal she dropped the backpack on the ground, clasping her hands together happily.

"My HAT!" she cried, dashing over to the Charmander and plucking it from his grip. Much to Jax's discomfort, she started hugging it close to her face and peppering it with kisses in between murmuring comforting platitudes.

Jax made a mental note to never, ever separate Violet and her hat ever again after this incident.

Joyfully slipping it back on her head, encasing most of her disheveled hair within it, she adjusted it to a rather stylish tilt. For a moment she just seemed to bask in its return on her head, before she realized that she wasn't the only person in the universe who mattered and reality came crashing back down on her, piecing the world back together.

"Oh, hey, Jax," she said cheerfully, "How long have you been up?"

--**Seven Minutes of Uncomfortable Preparation Later--**

It had taken some time, but Jax managed to push that morning's fiasco out into the forgotten, neglected corners of his mind where it would be left to gather cobwebs with the rest of any unpleasant memories he accumulated (such as 'The Time I Fell Into the Neighbor's Pool' and 'The Time That Squirtle I Was Flirting With Turned Out to Be A Guy'). Now the two were trudging along as usual, with Violet in consistently good cheer, the backpack re-strapped to her back, and her hat to never be disturbed on her head. Jax decided it should remain that way, especially since the once-quiet jingling of the badges on her hat had become more pronounced than usual after what happened.

Today's events or not, it was a welcome change from the haunting buzzing of the Beedrills from yesterday. Throughout the trek they found no sight or sound of any antagonistic bugs, quite surprisingly. Only the jingling of the badges, the tiniest sounds of blades of grass crumpling beneath their feet, and the chirping of distant Pidgeys and Spearows.

"I think we're almost near the exit," Violet remarked, looking at the foliage as they walked, "It's getting a bit thinner."

She was right. The trees were nowhere near as packed or the forestation as dense as it once was. The canopy above that once drowned out most all light had broken apart, now made up of just a few, cloud-like patches of leaves suspended by the tangled claws of branches high above. With that leafy barricade mostly gone, light poured through by the gallon, illuminating everything in front of them. They could almost see it, that door out of this forested hell, outlined in golden light, beckoning them to step through and be welcomed into freedom…

They were almost there when suddenly, the bushes in front of them burst apart in a shower of leaves, giant talons slamming and scraping at the ground haphazardly as their owner staggered and wavered, releasing caws and squawks from its two beaks. Yelping as she dodged being knocked over by a rough slam from the tall bird Pokemon's round side, Violet pinned her hat firmly to her head with one hand, and then grabbed Jax with the other, ducking off to relative safety—that was, a bush that hadn't been demolished beneath the feet and the barreling body of the monstrous avian.

Violet panted, looking at Jax with the same bug-eyed, panicked look she exhibited that morning, "What the HELL is going on!"

Jax yelped as he watched the remains of a branch, stripped of its leaves and still bearing the little stubs its vegetation once grew from, go flying in a spray of dirt. Some grotesque part of his mind started to rampage through his head when he noticed the very disturbing resemblance the branch had to a human spine.

"If I actually KNEW, I would have TOLD YOU BY NOW!" Jax hissed, his own expression a fine imitation of Violet's. The clumsy bird was dashing to and fro, a feathery wrecking ball with no discrimination as to what it smashed up—whenever something went flying or the sound of something being crushed rang out under the sound of its hammering footprints, Jax and Violet both flinched and edged back.

It was easier to see the creature now—it was a spherical body supported on long, powerful looking legs, towering high over both Violet and Jax with not only the help of its legs, but its two heads on the ends of long necks. Both heads didn't seem happy, and their elongated, needle-like beaks had been restrained by some sort of leash or rein—which, Violet's eyes lead downn to a very startled man struggling to remain on his mount's back and simultaneously calm his steed down.

"Hey," Violet whispered to Jax, blue and green eyes settled on the form of the man being tossed in every direction as he tried to halt the Doduo's rampage, "There's a man on his back."

Jax squinted a bit at the russet, constantly-moving form that the Doduo was, barely making out the bruise-colored form being jerked around like some sort of rag doll. "You're right," Jax said, then looked concernedly at Violet, eyebrows furrowed. "How are we supposed to get him off?"

Violet was at a loss—she wasn't willing to step anywhere near the berserk Pokemon, and every time her nearly petrified courage started to resurface from the muck it had been forced into, a piece of a tree, cracked rocks, or leaves and dirt went flying past like tattered projectiles to shove it back down. It had nearly drowned when somewhere, in the back of her mind, a lightbulb went off, flooding her brain with warm, revitalizing white.

"I got an idea!" Violet declared, slipping off her backpack, "Okay Jax, I'm going after that—"

"EXCUSE ME?" Jax sibilated, grabbing her by the striped sleeve of her shirt and tugging her back down to his level so he could properly chew her out for coming up with such a reckless, stupid idea, "You can NOT be this stupid. You can't go running after that thing when it's tearing apart everything! It'd trample you!"

Violet waved her arms, trying not to let herself be dissuaded by the cold truth. Swatting away mental images of her body being kicked about like some fleshy soccer ball, she said, clutching her backpack in both hands, "No, I have a plan. Trust me."

There was a startled cry, and the sound of more grass being ripped apart and uprooted. Jax's eyes traced the jumbled mess of muddy footprints and devastated forestry, his own confidence sinking into the quagmire that Violet's had been swallowed into. It had been against every bit of his conscience's advice, but he finally said, somewhat numbly, "Alright. So enlighten me about this plan."

He was met with no response.

Immediately, Jax's mind shot out of the swamp it'd been trapped in, as did his control of his eyes and limbs, when the only reason to explain Violet's silence flashed, once, in his brain. Turning his head around, his jaw nearly hit the floor when he saw, indeed, that nobody was standing there.

"Alright, you big, ugly, two-headed—"

Jax's head swiveled around to the direction of where the sound of a very familiar voice had come from, and his blood ran cold in his veins, slithering like slowly hardening cement, as he saw Violet standing within the range of the Doduo's beak and claws. Much to his stomach's chagrin, the mental image of the Doduo gouging Violet with those sharp beaks its heads possessed had latched to his mind, and whenever it was pulled away, it was replaced with something even worse. Jax cursed ever watching that Splatter Flick Madness marathon when he was living with Oak.

Violet continued repeating what she had shouted under her breath, obviously unable to find an appropriate insult for a giant, two-headed, flightless bird. Regardless, she had certainly caught its attention, as it whirled around, beady black eyes boring down at the girl from seven feet high up. With a loud crowing sound that vibrated from its two necks, it reared up and lifted its feet, like it was getting ready to trample her. A foot slammed on the ground, scraping at the dirt like it was sharpening its claws, leaving deep divots in the ruined soil. It was getting ready to charge, and within seconds, it had launched itself at the 13-year-old, who looked like she was just about to wet herself in fear.

"Oh _shit_," was the first thing that came out of Jax's mouth.

Just before Jax was going to fling himself out from behind their sad excuse of a bunker and sink his teeth into the Doduo's hide, Violet managed to kick her body into overdrive, hands working in fluid motion. The backpack was discarded, leaving only the Kakuna, grasped in her hands like a football. Hopping back, she flung the Kakuna with all the power her arm carried, and watched it as it connected with one of the Doduo's two heads.

The Doduo collapsed to the ground with a thunderous thud, its mount yelping as he, too, fell with it.

There was complete and total silence, like the whole atmosphere had been frozen just for this moment, and this moment only.

And then it was broken by Jax, completely aghast, and his expression incredulous, shouting, "What the HELL WAS THAT?"

Violet didn't respond immediately, she was too busy trying to catch her breath and stop herself from shaking, which seemed all but impossible, especially when it was exacerbated by the erratic throbbing of her heart. When it was over, or had relatively receded, and she stopped fanning herself with her hat, she slipped it back on her head (although at the wrong angle) and pointed to the sky, saying, "That was a Tackle attack."

It took immense effort from every muscle in Jax's body to keep himself from running over and strangling her at that moment.

--**An Hour Later, Back in Viridian Forest--**

"I hate this forest."

Violet cursed violently, kicking at an unfortunate stump that happened to be in her path. Fortunately for the unfortunate stump, it happened to have a rather large edge on it which then stubbed Violet's toe. Letting out a caterwaul of pain, Violet staggered away from the offending stump, nursing her injured toe. Up ahead of her, Jax was walking with a parcel slung under his arm and a decidedly bland look on his face.

"Oh come on, Violet," he said, completely ignoring the girl's antics from behind him, "The guy broke his leg during the fall. It's only fair we deliver the parcel for him…" Jax sighed and rolled his eyes, then muttered, "Or we could have disagreed and he could have sued us for personal damages, AND pay the medical bills for him and his Doduo."

Violet finally caught up with him, wearing a makeshift bandage out of leaves wound over her foot, and walking with a slight limp (plus she was cringing uncontrollably every step or so). "But I can't believe we have to go through this whole forest all over again!" she continued to complain, drawing her fingers through her hat and into her hair so she could scratch at her scalp, "I mean, we were RIGHT AT Pewter City! RIGHT AT IT! And what happens?"

Jax knew she was rambling to herself, so he decided to just pretend she didn't exist for the next few minutes.

"…we have to play Mr. and Ms. Knights In Shining Armor, otherwise we get faced with legal action. How wonderful is that, Jax, how wonderful is th—" her words trailed off to a yelp as she tripped over a rather large root curving up from the ground and landed flat on her face, her hat landing a few inches away from her. Protectively, and not even moving from her position, she grabbed it and put it back on her head, like she thought it was going to be snatched away by some vile apparition the moment she least expected it.

Jax bit his lip, desperately trying to look for a bright side to the dark and annoying situation they had found themselves inescapably trapped in. He juggled the package in his hands a bit, wondering idly what was in it. The package itself was pretty light, so it was probably nothing artsy, and he didn't see any 'FRAGILE's stamped over it. _'Come to think of it,'_ he pondered, while Violet tried to fight off a rather menacing Caterpie with a pointy branch, _'Who's it addressed to? The guy only said it was to be sent to Pallet Town…'_

Curiosity killed the Charmander, who rotated the parcel around in his hand until he came across a block of lettering scrawled onto the side. His eyes scanned it briefly, widening as he realization came, once again, and smashed him with the force of a charging rhinoceros.

"You have to be kidding me."

--**Forty-Five Minutes Later, Pallet Town—**

The incessant rapping of a set of bony, freckled knuckles against a solid door peppered at the air like the chattering of a woodpecker—incessant, monotonous, and above all, annoying, as Violet remained resolute at the door of Professor Oak's lab, dutifully knocking on it without the slightest falter in her position. Next to her, Jax twitched and rubbed at his head as the constant sound started to get to him, and it was probably to the great relief of everybody in Pallet that he nudged Violet away from the door with a bodily push.

"I think he's got the point, Violet," he muttered, standing almost defensively before the door, like he was, despite the fact that with his size, Violet could reach over him and just continue like nothing happened, blocking her from resuming her bombardment.

Violet sniffed and adjusted backpack straps self-consciously. "I'm just making sure," she said off-handedly in between cleaning herself of any stray grass stains or unsightly blotches of dirt and lifting her hat so to smooth down her wild mess of hair. Unknown to her, it didn't even remain tidy for a millisecond before it sprung back, and the bangs drooped everywhere as normal.

Jax looked at her through the corners of his eyes, an eyebrow arcing. "And what do you think you're doing?" he asked, curiosity piqued by her unusual behavior.

Violet was now polishing the chains holding the Pokemon keychains onto her backpack, much to his amusement. "Making a good impression," she said, voice distracted, "Come on Jax, we're DELIVERY PEOPLE. We need to look nice and clean." Finally, she seemed to reach a state that at the very least satisfied her, and she took her place back at Jax's side, just as the doorknob started to turn. In all actuality, she just looked like how she normally would, only trying too hard.

Jax muttered to her out of the corner of his mouth, "Funny, you didn't seem so enthusiastic back in Viridian Forest, where you were getting attacked by shrubbery," he remarked, words scathing.

Violet only mutely, and uninterestedly, pantomimed the movement of his mouth with her mouth and her hand, like it was a sock puppet. After that two-second-long moment of enjoying her immaturity, Violet finally said, "Jax, I'm a girl of dedication," she said proudly, thumping a fist to her chest, "When ya get right to it, I'm your go-to-gal for your needs. You need some water for your bath? I'm on it!" She pointed to the air, her posture now exaggerated and stiff, "Some groceries? No problemo!"

Jax only stared at her, hardly moved or impressed by her whole charade. "You're just hoping that Oak'll pay you with something," he said numbly.

Quite unsurprisingly, Violet had nothing to say in her defense, and could only just seethe in silence as the door opened.

Only, it wasn't by Professor Oak.

Peeking behind the door, in place of a certain sexagenarian professor that both of them knew and loved, the head of a girl was staring out at them, her face framed by the sparse, fluffy, coral-colored hairstyle that hugged close to the curve of her scalp from beneath her unusually shaped hat—some sort of dome, decorated with triangular fringes that made the girl almost look like she was wearing a sun. Her eyebrow raised in a very Jax-ish manner as she looked from Jax to Violet, back and forth, carefully scrutinizing them.

"…You two don't look like a delivery guy," the girl remarked in a husky baritone, a hand emerging from behind the door to stroke thoughtfully at her chin. Violet blinked in response, whereas Jax just looked absolutely confused. "Heck, only one of you look like guys, and you're not even a human…"

The confusion warped into something almost defensively forward as the hand clenched itself into a fist and jabbed righteously at the air, barking words impatiently, "WHAT DID YOU DO TO THE DELIVERY GUY!" she

Suddenly, Violet half-lunged at the girl, striking a rather dramatic position reserved for professional detectives interrogating criminals and crooks in film noir. Since they weren't in film noir, however, she just looked rather ridiculous. "Us!" she snapped, getting right to business, "What have _you_ done with the _professor_!"

The girl looked shocked, her rock-solid defense fading as quickly as the expression set in. "**_Excuse me_**?" she exclaimed, outraged, only for Violet to bellow at her again, sounding too much like she was trying to impersonate Humphrey Bogart—and failing—to sound intimidating.

Although on a small scale, she DID completely and totally shock Jax, and he looked nothing short of horrified.

"_Did you eat him_!" she demanded, much to the girl's revulsion, and Jax's embarrassment. Before the Charmander could open his mouth to tell Violet to put a sock in it, the girl interjected.

"EAT HIM? ARE YOU FLIPPING MENTAL!" The girl shouted, stunned, before she said, quite sincerely, "Wouldn't he taste horrible?" It was almost like her tone and expression had changed on a dime, flipping into motion at the speed of light and the movements of muscles, that seemed to be rather flexible on the unusual girl's face.

Violet's at first relentless posture disappeared on the spot, replaced with actual thinking, reflected in her suddenly casually thoughtful appearance. She scratched her head beneath her hat. "You know, I don't think so. He's kinda wrinkly, so…"

"Right," the girl agreed, nodding her head in approval. "And I don't think he'd appreciate it. It'd almost be like that nursery story… I forgot its name… Hamster and Greytell or something like that…"

"Am I the only one who sees the insanity in this topic?" Jax interrupted from the sidelines, sounding both aggravated and a little flabbergasted by the chosen subject.

Suddenly, the door was pushed open with a creak, exposing the rest of the girl, and the lab behind her. She was definitely roughly around Violet's age, if not a little older, and a little taller, with a lanky, gangly physique. Much like Violet, her clothes were casual, and brightly colored as well, seeming to fade from colors of greens to an entirely different one—yellows--by the waist, perhaps an intended effect of some kind of dye. The girl's eyes moved to the Charmander, mouth open to say something, when a look of recognition flashed over her.

Violet and Jax barely had time to follow her pupils down to the parcel in Jax's claws before she had snatched it away from them, holding it aloft happily. "Yes! This is it!" Her happiness was temporarily interrupted by a look of worry, as she prudently looked at the package, almost like she were expecting it of some action of treachery at any given moment. "Or IS IT?"

While Jax was completely lost, Violet was now watching the one-girl show with acute interest.

The girl tilted the package around in her hand so the side with the writing on it was upright, "Lesseeeee…" the girl murmured in sing-song, reading over the scripture. Sure enough, she gave a curt nod, "Yep, this is it. Come on!" And once more, the cheer had been restored back into the girl, and Violet realized just why her face seemed so flexible as a massive, radiant grin stretched from cheek to cheek, nearly reducing her eyes to twinkling slits.

She gestured to the two standing, one dumbstruck and wondering if that expression was going to hurt her, and one whose had now deteriorated into something entirely unreadable, to the lab. The girl marched in as the two followed, leading them out of the enormous room that served some sort of lobby, thanks to its position as unarguably the largest room in Oak's lab. As they trekked through it, Violet idly noticed that things seemed busier than usual—scientists and engineers working for Oak were hard at work wherever they turned as they navigated through the building like marching hamsters through big, mechanical maze. The girl was leading them all the way, her gait nothing short of chipper and her grin not even showing one sign of closure, hell, even her eyes seemed to sparkle with immortal bliss. It was as if she were the lightning rod, drawing it all to her center, whereas everyone around her was just dedicatedly working. At long last the girl stopped before one last door and opened it, stepping into a room flanked by tall, cylindrical capsules and a desk, where Oak was working on something indistinct quite ardently.

"Hey dooc," she crooned, holding the package triumphantly before her, "Your package is here! And look!" She gestured with the parcel over to Violet and Jax with a slight sweeping motion, "They're mailing people now too." At first Jax was starting to wonder if another Violet existed in the universe before he caught the sarcastic edge to her voice that he was quite familiar with.

Oak managed to glance up at the two girls from what he was so feverishly engrossed in long enough to yelp and grab a tarp from under the table, then, before any of the three spectators could see it, had draped it over the table, completely concealing his work save for an unusually shaped bulge. Letting out a relaxed sigh, he wiped his forehead with the back of his hand and turned to Violet and Jax.

"Well, if this isn't an unexpected surprise," he said with a chuckle, "I was worried that I'd have to send one of my aides after you two."

Violet folded her arms. "Uh, what do you mean?" she asked, slowly piecing together the situation. By the peak of an eyebrow she had begun to form an uncertain conclusion, her hesitancy leaking into her words, "You WANTED us to be here?"

Oak nodded briskly, then took the parcel from the girl's hands. While nowhere near as joyful as his messenger, he undoubtedly appeared excited by the contents of this mysterious package. "Yes," he started, working away the covering of the parcel almost immediately. It was peeled apart layer by layer: first the tie holding the wrapping on, then the paper, then the lid of the box and the top half of the Styrofoam packaging within, until he finally removed two objects from the box, a proud grin on his face. "I wanted you here to accept this."

They were vaguely square, red, and covered with the same PokeBall painting in black that Oak had on the front of his house on its cover, resembling more of a digital book than anything else. One was in each of Oak's hands, to the left extended to the strange girl at the door, and to the right to Violet and Jax. Gingerly, Violet took hers from him and examined it carefully, eyeing a rather large, green button-like attachment like it was her arch nemesis. After everything that had occurred in the whirlwind of a day that she'd been chased, dragged, and marched through, she felt she had the right to scrutinize everything—and she probably did.

"What is it?" she asked after a second of experimenting with it, and struggling to open it with her hands. The 'pages', or the two flaps of the machine refused to move by even the slightest, even after attempting to pry it open by all the brass tacks (save for masticating, as Violet decided what she held was certainly not edible).

Finally the girl beside her had accomplished what she hadn't by pressing some sort of button in the back of it, making it open up automatically, much like a book, its pages unfolding for an awestruck child. Two screens beside a row of buttons labeled with different options were inside, as well as a tiny, rectangular speaker beneath the lowermost screen with a dilator used for manipulating volumes. Violet blinked, then followed suite, staring at the device like a child would a new toy, and in some respects the scenario was the same.

"They're your Pokedexes," Oak explained, dusting his hands off as he looked from girl to girl while they appraised their respective devices, "Mechanical dictionaries, if you will. They automatically record the full information of Pokemon you catch, and even record snippets of data of Pokemon you've merely encountered."

A proud sigh showed that he was very fond of his greatest achievement, but that little moment was all he allowed himself before he patched up the rest of whatever questions there might have been, "You two left so quickly after you got your Starter Pokemon—you left behind your Pokedexes. I've run out, and it takes quite a while to manufacture these, so I asked one of my cohorts in Pewter to send a pair out here."

Violet's attention was completely pulled from looking over her Pokedex, though not for what Oak's speech was mostly about. Her gaze centered unbelievingly on the girl, "Hey wait, you were here?" she asked skeptically, "You know, to get your Starter Pokemon?"

The girl nodded, then pointed with an odd air of overinflated dignity at the PokeBalls, three of them in total, strapped to her belt. "Came here bright and early yesterday," she narrated, happily patting one of the three spheres like it were a puppy. "And I got to pick up one of my favorites. There was quite a crowd…" she frowned all of a sudden, halting her tangent.

For some reason, Violet didn't think it looked quite right when she frowned—like she wasn't used to it, or it didn't suit her in some way, and after how exuberantly happy she had been throughout most of their meeting, the latter was the most plausible answer. "…I don't think I saw you there, did I?" she queried, idly fanning herself with her Pokedex as she quietly recalled everything that occurred in her quest's beginnings, like she could easily memorize every face that was present at the laboratory.

She probably could, because her features lit up all over again as an answer came to her. Turning to Violet on her heel, she held out her hand genially, folding the Pokedex back up with the other. "I'm Rory," she said genially, and the toothy smile that occupied her face before made its grand return.

Violet took a moment to absorb the girl's story and to try and battle her way out of being frozen solid with disbelief as to how she slept through a whole crowd entering Oak's building. She ultimately departed her mental brawl as the victor, however, and stopped herself from staring dumbly at Rory's hand to take hold of it and shake it firmly. Warmth seemed to sprawl from her fingers to intertwine with Violet's, filling her body with some sort of golden happiness that so naturally showed from this perpetually mirthful individual, and while Violet couldn't muster a smile as large as hers, she did flash a grin that was her own, braces and all.

"Violet," she introduced herself briefly.

The moment the girls parted, Rory seemed to re-comprehend Jax's presence, or at the very least materialize him as something beyond someone waiting at a door, because the minute she saw him again the corners of her mouth seemed to tug another centimeter. "Oh, I forgot to mention," she started excitedly, "You have a Charmander too?"

Jax, who was somewhat silent throughout the whole presentation and introduction sequences, cleared his throat. "Temporarily," he filled in for what Violet loathed to say. "I'm only going to be here for a little while."

Violet pouted and looked away disappointedly, like she was trying not to face the truth behind the conditions of their agreement. Rory sighed and 'tsk'ed sympathetically, "Darn shame," she said, look empathetic. By the end of the sentence her voice became faraway, sort of a mumble beneath her breath, like she was thinking very intensely to the point she was about to enter a meditative state. No such thing happened—instead, something behind her eyes lit up, every feature on her expression reading the same thing: Eureka.

With that ethereal lightbulb glowing like a second sun fresh under that dome of a hat she wore, Rory strode over to Violet and slung a skinny arm around her shoulder, a devious edge to the grin on her face. "Hey, you haven't had a Pokemon battle yet, have you?" she asked, words deliberately paced, the undertones so obvious and thick that it nearly weighed down her words with its heavy implications.

Violet took a moment to think herself, nibbling on her lower lip. She looked away from Rory, her mismatched pupils rotating to face one of many suddenly interesting fluorescent bars that kept Oak's laboratory thoroughly lit. Hesitantly, she asked, "Does being chased by Beedrills and throwing my Kakuna at a Doduo count?"

The two girls looked at each other, unblinking—one breaking out into a wide grin, unaware of how the senselessness of her adventure may have come across, and the other just at a loss of words, and her grin lingering like it was glued there. Rory was the first one to speak, albeit not with much articulation. "O…kay then," she muttered, relinquishing her grip on Violet's shoulder—but not without a hearty pat, "We oughta get you some experience, then!" She snatched a Pokeball from her belt and tossed it in her hand experimentally, smirking as she did so. "You up for it?"

There is no need to detail that Violet's immediate answer was yes, jolted by a burst of adrenaline that Rory's contagious attitude had administered, and that all the way out of the lab and out the front door, Jax's thoughts were filled with nothing but growing trepidation.

Because unknown to Violet, an undertrained Charmander and a Kakuna a brutal, unbeatable fighting team did not make.

_**Chapter III Completed…**_

**Author's Afternote: **Okay, I admit that the chapter's end was a wee bit rushed, but it was getting a bit too long. In the next one, there'll be lots of action, I swear. Rejoice, action lovers, rejoice. And no, I'm not just going to do some kinda cop-out where the Amazing Flying Kakuna makes an appearance.


	4. Raise Thy PokeBalls

**Disclaimer: **Oh my goodness gracious, would you look at that! I STILL don't own Pokemon! What a shock. But Violet and the personalities of the main characters still belong to me, EXCEPT for Rory, who is the property of the great and mighty Agz (Alan G. Zendra) Are you bowing before him? Y'should. Really. It's good exercise. I should sell workout tapes featuring that, I'd make millions.

**Chapter IV: **Raise Thy PokeBall

---

"_War is not nice."_ – **Barbara Bush (1925- )**

"Violet, do you have any idea what you've gotten us into?"

Violet stopped in the middle of a step, carefully withdrawing her foot as she stared over her shoulder. A clear look of befuddlement was dictating her features. "Uhm, I just said that I'd fight with Rory," she said slowly, an eyebrow slowly rising by the centimeters until it fully scaled to the top of her head, "For such a stuck-up jackass, Jax, you sure can be stupi—"

The Charmander who had pulled her aside hissed irritably under his breath, probably a poorly-concealed curse word, because Violet was almost positive she made out a syllable that could have easily been attached to the beginning of any particularly terrible profanities. After a brief second of fuming that did no good to the frustrated Charmander, he glared back up to the girl.

"YES YOU DID," he said firmly, each word forced out between his grit teeth, "But that's not the point! Violet, how many Pokemon do you have?"

Violet laughed derisively, "Oh, that's easy. There's you, and then there's Zeeg," she jerked her thumb toward her constantly bulging backpack that served as the Kakuna's domain, rolling her shoulders so the backpack would shuffle and the keychains on it jingle.

It was Jax's turn to raise an eyebrow. "'Zeeg'?" he inquired, struggling with the unusual name on his tongue.

Violet folded her arms and nodded, a proud grin that could have rivaled Rory's in width on her face. "Yeah, I finally named him!" she said, craning her body around so she could pat the backpack happily on her head, "Though I think I could've named him Bullet after the stunt we pulled yesterday."

Jax corrected her immediately, not wanting to be associated with any of her ridiculous and possibly suicidal antics, "You mean the stunt YOU pulled yesterday. But that's not the point," he waved his hands dismissively, like he was banishing the subject to some dark and forbidden corner where it would never emerge again, "I mean, that girl over there—Rory…"

"Wait a gosh darn second!" Violet interrupted, looking aghast, "Jax, he's a guy."

Jax had no immediate answer beyond just the drop of his jaw. He managed to pull it up the moment he was able to conjure up an appropriate response. "…no, she's a girl," he said, his voice a mix of confusion and suspicion—possibly of Violet's sanity, because after that remark, his expression regarded her with more belittling scrutiny than normal. "Anyway…"

He pointed to the girl-or-guy, who had happily jogged out ahead of them to the door out of Oak's laboratory, unaware of their dawdling. Jax knew she wouldn't remain oblivious forever, so he hurried up his point, trying to take as much advantage to their temporary privacy as possible, "She already has three Pokemon, and I'm willing to bet that she has a team much better than ours ready."

Violet was instantly offended by this statement, looking, aghast, at him. "Hey hey hey hey hey hey," she said, putting her hands on her hips and glaring him down, "We have a PERFECT fighting team ready!" She tilted her head over toward her backpack, like she were leaning into someone's ear from over her shoulder, "Right, Zeeg?"

The Kakuna said nothing.

As Violet waited intently for an answer from the mute insect, Jax sighed and turned away from her, trudging on ahead with his hands in the air. "Whatever, I give up," he said, rubbing his temples with a clawed hand, "I'll see you outside."

Violet didn't respond, having tuned herself out to just about everyone around her—especially Jax—in favor of listening for her Kakuna's response. The girl probably would have waited there obediently all day if her stupor hadn't been shattered by the sound of a door closing, one that ushered back in everything she had conveniently forgotten. Yelping, she scrambled for the door, hastily worked it open, and dashed outside after her companions.

--

Outside, it was the picture perfect example of a nice, sunny day in peaceful Pallet Town. Under the clear blue skies, the sparse, fluffy clouds, and the glowing sun lay a town safely entrenched in contentment and comfort, surrounded by fields of grass and denser meadows of healthy oak trees. Not too far from the southernmost boundaries of the town was a small beach, where the water was a crystalline blue, sparkling beneath the rays of the sun, and the waters mostly predominately shallow enough for it to be a rather popular swimming spot.

It was in one of these many fields in Pallet that Rory was waiting for them, hopping from one foot to another impatiently in an unusual, wacky dance. The girl would have had a disapproving look on her face if her grin wasn't still dominating her face. Instead, she waggled her finger toward the younger girl, like a teacher scolding an unruly student.

"What took ya so long, guys?" she asked, spinning around on the ball of her feet like in some sort of a strange pirouette, "My Pokemon nearly fell asleep waitin' for ya!"

Violet's eyes fixated on the PokeBalls on her belt again as she spun and danced idly to herself, watching them each bob with the movements of her body. She already knew that one of them housed a Charmander, much like Jax, but the next two were a complete mystery to her. As her eyes strained to peer through the red glass of the PokeBall to see the creature resting within, Rory completed one last spin and whirled around to face them, smirking—a mischievous gesture made boisterous thanks to the natural machinations of her face.

Well, almost boisterous.

"I think we should do this one on one," she declared after a five-second interval of thinking, much to Jax's nearly open relief, and Violet's puzzlement. She noticed Violet's expression and continued with a shrug, "It doesn't really look like you have any Pokemon besides Jax."

Violet shook her head so forcefully that her spiky, blue bangs slapped her in the face with every wave of her head. "No no," she started, hastily working her backpack off, "I have a second Pokemon, really!"

Rory's eyebrows raised simultaneously, her grin lapsing enough for Violet to actually see the faintest flash of her normally squinted, blue eyes widen. "Oh really!" she said, bouncing over to the Charmander and the girl, hands rubbing excitedly together, "Let me see!"

If Violet were capable of sprouting little, curved horns and a long tail, she probably would have once a more devious idea popped up in her head. Resisting the urge to let her face cave under a smirk of its own, she hugged the backpack tight, shaking her head. "Nope," she said simply, tucking her backpack under her arm like a football.

Rory was startled by this. The unthinkable happened: her smile died slightly, her cheeks closing back in as her smile shrunk down to something of an actually realistic size. "What? Why?" she asked, looking slightly betrayed. From the sidelines, Jax sighed and rolled his eyes at Violet's methods—he had almost instantly understood what the girl had been plotting.

Violet shifted the backpack around so it was hiding behind her back, held taut by one strap in Violet's hands. Moving on the balls of her feet again, Rory tilted her body to the side, mouth contorted into a pout, trying to crane her neck around Violet, who merely turned her body around so she was facing her front again. When Rory started to move to the opposite side, hardly daunted, Violet spoke, a forcefully innocent look on her face.

"I'll only show you him if you show me the Pokemon you're going to use," she said, and pointed to one of the girl's PokeBalls that her eyes had been adamantly fixated on.

Rory finally leaned back so she could give Violet an incredulous look on her oddly elastic face. "That's it?" she asked. Violet nodded vehemently.

In response, the girl's hand flashed across her belt, whisking away a PokeBall from its clip faster than Violet's eyes could allow. In the same fluid motion of red, white, and the pale blur of her hand, her thumb pressed against the ball's button, both halves snapping open. It seemed to hover in mid-air for a moment as the crimson light contained within it flowed out, at first in just a curved, faceless mass that started to rapidly grow—like the light was spreading into it. By the time it stopped coming out it chiseled itself down to a recognizable shape, gradually forming into the round body of another Charmander, sitting in the grass.

"Why didn't ya say so?" Rory quipped, tilting her head. The grin was back on her face and wider than ever as she proudly walked over to the Charmander, who climbed to his feet and started inspecting his surroundings. She patted him on the head, and said, "This here's Flambé."

Violet looked down at the other's Charmander simultaneous to when he tilted his head up to look straight into hers. Although both Jax and Flambé were the same species, they had more than enough drastic differences for Violet to differentiate one from the other. While Jax was slightly lithe and unusually tall for his species, Flambé was the opposite—he was pudgy and diminutive, but noticeably healthy.

The smaller, chubbier Charmander languidly climbed to his feet, his eyes blinking back a sleepy luster in his eyes with a yawn. "Ah great…" he muttered, straightening his body the best he could, "Another fight. Can't you give it a rest, Rory?"

His head tilted toward his trainer, his expression lax. He looked like he was going to collapse back onto the grass and fall asleep again at any given moment, but he stayed awake the best he could, regardless, despite the sagging of his eyelids. Before Rory could respond, Jax walked over to his fellow species, his arms behind his back. "Hi," he greeted him, holding up a clawed hand, "Name's Jax."

The Charmander's head swiveled around so their eyes met. Now aware of the other Charmander's presence, he turned his body around so they were fully facing each other, and returned the friendly gesture, curling his tail in the grass in front of him. "Flambé," he repeated his name, although not without quite obvious reluctance, which heavily permeated his voice as much as the thick baritone did.

Jax winced sympathetically at his name. "Flambé?" he questioned, voice unsure. "What's the story behind that?" His eyes instinctually moved toward Rory, who was trying to look as innocent as possible as the two Charmanders interacted.

Adjacent to her, Violet watched with curiosity, fascinated with how eager Jax seemed to talk to one of his species. _Well, I guess it's not like he gets a lot of company in that lab from his own species, seeing how popular they are,_ Violet thought, her mind wandering back to what Oak said about the population of Charmanders delivered to the lab easily being snatched up.

Flambé rolled his eyes in a very Jax-esque fashion, then rubbed the corners of his eyes, trying to banish the lingering sleep from them. "Well, little miss Gradient over here," he pointed to Rory, who immediately and unsuccessfully tried to blend into the surroundings despite her brightly colored clothing, "Had a thing for cooking. STILL does."

Judging by the irritated tone in his voice, Jax quickly assumed that the Charmander had been subjected to quite a few trials and tribulations under the experimentations of his cheerful Trainer. One by one, several mental images appeared in his head: a plastic Barbie stove on fire, a plate of cookies on fire, Flambé on fire, Rory on fire…

Until his eyes finally dropped down to the Charmander's berounded physique. "Uhm, but you're a bit… no offense…" he decided not to finish that question, instead just gesturing awkwardly.

Flambé perked up. "Oh, she got better," he said happily, and Jax's sympathy for the Charmander returned to being only limited to his unfortunate choice in nicknames.

Finally, Rory took the moment to speak up as she excitedly returned to bouncing and spinning on her heels. "Hey, sorry to break up the conversation here and all," she said with surprising sincerity in her voice despite the constant energy electrifying her words and movements, "But I think that a certain person whose name is a color of the rainbow promised to show me her oh-so-mysterious Pokemon!"

Flambe raised an eyebrow to show his interest had been piqued as he looked expectantly at Violet. "Oh really?" he asked, thrashing his tail to his opposite end.

Jax, however, didn't share the curiosity that both Pokemon and Trainer shared. With a sigh that insinuated, 'oh, this is going to end in tears', Jax's head dropped down in his claws, like he was trying to hide himself from what he predicted to be Violet's most glorious mess-up. Violet on the other hand didn't seem undaunted, or trying to come up with anything that would allow her to shirk out on her promise. Flashing her best Rory-esque grin, Violet held out her backpack before her and started to draw the zipper down, the front flap slowly falling down.

"Introducing," Violet said, imitating an announcer's voice that she heard in a live Pokemon battle (and quite unsuccessfully, despite the grandeur), "The most fantastic…"

Rory's eyes widened.

"Amazing…"

Rory's eyes widened another fraction.

"…Sensational Pokemon to EVER BE CAPTURED IN MY TEAM," Violet finished with the flamboyant introduction, her grin breaking into a slight smirk as she finally settled the opened backpack onto the crisp brass, reached inside, and, with exaggerated amplitude, whipped out the Kakuna inside and held him aloft, high over her head. "ZEEG!"

There was a very, very long and uncomfortable pause that made Jax desperately want to just disappear behind his hands.

And it was broken by the uproarious cheering of Rory, whose hands were a thunderous blur from how fast they broke apart and came together for an excited clap. The girl's eyes were wide with impressiveness and her grin wider than ever, as she looked upon the Kakuna with the utmost reverence and amazement in her big blue eyes. On the ground near her feet, Flambé quietly leaned over toward the dumbstruck Jax and whispered into his ear, "Is that a KAKUNA of all things?" he queried, pointing toward Zeeg.

Jax didn't respond. He was too busy absolutely gawking at the situation at hand. Or if he could phase through the ground. That would be good.

Violet, meanwhile, was grinning a grin with enough width to surpass even Rory's, as she proudly lowered her hands so Zeeg was leveled right before her, and for all prying eyes (actually, just one pair was really prying—the other was completely befuddled by the feigned magnificence of such a common Pokemon, and the last was wishing that he knew how to use Flamethrower) to properly see. Rory started clapping harder, if such a thing were possible, even, at some point, sticking two fingers in her mouth and letting out a celebratory whistle. The whole spectacle lasted for five more (in Jax's case agonizing) minutes, until Violet pushed Zeeg back into the backpack, zippered it back up, and graciously bowed to the generous applause that was given.

By this point the two Charmanders were in differing states of shock.

--

Even after things had finally settled down and Violet's backpack had returned to hanging off of her back, Rory was still hyped up after Violet's presentation, but thankfully not enough to keep her from arranging the terms of their match. "Alright, so it's going to be Jax," she pointed toward Jax, who had grabbed a lemonade from Violet's house during the aftermath, "versus Flambé." Her finger turned from Jax and landed on the rotund Charmander, who was idly poking at a caterpillar creeping up a cracked blade of grass.

Violet, who was also holding a can of lemonade, popped it open with a loud sizzle, and took a long swig from it. Wiping her mouth clean of moisture with the back of her hand, she gave a nod of approval, "That's fine by me," she said, taking a few steps back. "Come on, let's get this started!"

Jax finished off his lemonade and rose to his feet, stretching his arms high over his head, his tail circling beneath him. Behind him, Flambé followed suit, tail whipping behind him in a blur of flame and pale orange. They steadily walked toward their trainers, standing opposite one another at the edges of what they had deemed the terrain of their battlefield.

Rory leaned down and grasped Flambé's shoulders, massaging them with a few expert rolls of her wrist. The Charmander appreciatively shifted his shoulders, eyes trailing to the corners of his sockets so they could meet the gaze of his Trainer, "Let's kick some ass, big guy," she said encouragingly, and moved away with a pat on the shoulder. Flambé smirked out of the corner of his mouth and started to advance toward the center of the meadow.

On the other side of the makeshift arena, Violet took the crumpled can of lemonade that Jax had handed to her away from him, and settled it in the grass for her to throw away later. "Ready?" she asked, looking to the Charmander. A determined grin stretched the freckle-marked corners of her face from beneath a few, askew locks of teal, returned with a confirming nod and a crack of the knuckles from Jax. He, like Flambé, departed from his Trainer, still rubbing at his knuckles.

They were a few feet apart from each other now, eyes narrowed at one another, and teeth glistening beneath their curled lips. Flambé snorted out a small cloud of smoke as he glowered at Jax, the fellow Charmander's body tensing and twitching in every limber muscle. The air between them crackled and sparked like it had been ignited with gas and lightning, bathing both Charmanders in tension as livid as the fire roaring from their tails. For a few tense minutes, they just exchanged glares, waiting for the command to strike.

Rory started the countdown. "One…"

Jax grit his teeth, fighting down a sudden surge of nervousness spawned from the deepest, darkest parts of his gut until it was completely muted.

"Two…"

Flambé shuffled his feet anxiously, crushing dried, prickly blades of once-green grass among its healthier brethren, watching with the barest of glances bugs scurry and flee from them. He finished off his stress relieving with a stomp, a crunch signaling the destruction of the patch of grass.

"THREE."

And they were off.

Flambé lunged at Jax almost instantly, claws poised and his teeth exposed. The thinner Charmander yelped and leapt out of his way, easily able to dodge the other thanks to his superior speed. He barely had much of a time to find a reasonable distance to prepare from him before Flambé was at him again, his claw coming right at him. Once again, Jax pulled back, the nails barely grazing past his flesh the moment he dodged.

"Come on, do more than run!" urged Flambé as he readied himself for another strike.

Jax yelped again as the husky Charmander leapt at him, his legs pumping until he was at a speed that even Jax couldn't avoid. The claws came down again, raking through Jax's flesh in a flash of orange and flawless white nails, the tall Charmander yowling in pain. He reacted instinctually, his own claws whirling overhead and slashing down, meeting his mark just before Flambé himself could try and dodge.

"ACK!" Flambé groaned, staggering back.

Despite the shallow cuts on his side that kept erratically throbbing with pain whenever he moved, Jax seized the opportunity whence it came. He leapt at him with a roar, knocking him to the ground and sending both forms tumbling along the grass, crushing and crunching grass and kicking up dust into the air. Flambé's open mouth came toward Jax's shoulder in a tangerine-hued blur, sinking his teeth into his shoulder with just a tense of the jaw that had allowed it to pass through layers of muscle. It could have gone deeper—it WOULD have gone deeper, if he had less restraint—but immediately, Jax grabbed him and tried to pry his jaws off of his bloodied shoulder, snarling under his breath.

"LET GO!" Jax shouted, swinging his leg at him.

His toes collided with his knee with a crunch, again and again, but despite the pain, it seemed to be no more than a minor inconvenience for Flambé, whose teeth barely budged from the perforations they occupied. Jax's eyes darted, panicked, to the sight of blood rolling down his shoulder, and he nearly found himself getting sick.

Over with Violet, she had raced over to Rory, and was frantically whipping her gaze from Rory to the fight as she talked, like she was worried Jax would be killed behind her back without her supervision. "What're they DOING!" she shouted, "They're going to KILL EACH OTHER!"

"Hey!" Rory grabbed Violet's shoulders and squeezed reassuringly. For such a jovial person, she sounded dead serious when she said, "No they won't! Trust me on this!"

Simultaneous to this moment, Jax was at the end of his rope, and had exhausted his foot from kicking at Flambé's knee, which was now blemished with bruises flaring up all over. With his leg tired and his consciousness starting to flit tantalizingly in and out of his grasp, Jax's fatigued mind could barely grasp onto any available options left in his head. _I'm a goner, _Jax fretted, clawing at Flambé's unmoving back, _Either I'm going to pass out or he's going to kill me, he's going to— _Whenever his mind wandered there, he kept glancing back over to his shoulder, and the blood that outlined each puncture around Flambé's teeth, and found his stomach sinking deeper and deeper into nausea.

Squeezing his eyes shut, the nausea seemed to renew Jax's efforts as he pushed, shoved, and scratched at Flambé's chest and shoulders, trying to arch away from the grass his back had been bodily pinned to. No matter what he did, Flambé didn't budge in the slightest, but Jax's claws kept coming, sometimes beating at him in the form of fists, sometimes scratching.

And scratching is what happened when Jax pulled his leg back for another kick, and he landed a solid blow onto Flambé's shin. His claws on his feet weren't as well-tended to or sharpened as the ones on his fingers, but they were no doubt effective, as the results proved. This time it was Jax's turn to draw blood, as the claws planted themselves into his skin the moment he kicked him, and as he pulled back, he tore, leaving behind a triad of long, shallow, but painful, gashes. The teeth removed themselves from Jax's flesh as Flambé's jaw fell slack, the Charmander pulling back with a yell.

Another opening that Jax took advantage of. Hissing vengefully, Jax pushed himself out from beneath Flambé and struggled to balance himself to his feet, watching Flambé groan and heave as he, too, tried to stand up. Flambé, however, kept falling back down whenever he tried to get back up thanks to the injury to his leg, while Jax kept swaying and pivoting around as the threat of falling into unconsciousness loomed in on him.

Neither Charmander looked like they were in the condition to keep fighting.

"OVER!" Rory shouted hurriedly, whipping out her PokeBall. "The fight is OVER!"

While Violet didn't have a PokeBall to contain Jax, she herself ran out onto the field as both Charmanders simultaneously keeled over, and collapsed, knocked out, onto the grass, left bedraggled and flattened from being trampled under them during their fight.

--

"I told you, you don't need to keep apologizing."

A few minutes later, Jax was rubbing at his shoulder in between drinking another can of lemonade. Thanks to the miraculous healing abilities of a bottle of Potion kept in Rory's inventory, not a single mark was left on Jax's shoulder as evidence of their fight, and, with the same healing items, Flambé's leg and numerous scratches had been restored as well. The fight had been unanimously declared as a tie, although neither girl cared about being victorious after witnessing their Charmanders fight like that.

Flambé sat beside him, nervously fingering his own can of lemonade. "I don't know, I still feel like a jerk about it," he said, fidgeting in his seat as he took another sip, "I—"

Jax threw up his claws, moving deliberately slow with the claw holding the can so that way he wouldn't spill any, "It's fine, don't worry about it, I forgive you," Jax said quickly just before he took another sip. "Though, I'M sorry about ripping into your leg like that."

Flambé shrugged. "It's fine," he said briefly, giving a dismissive wave of the claw.

They were quiet for a few more minutes, until finally Jax asked, "Where's Rory?"

It was a legitimate question, he hadn't seen Rory since he had first awoken in her house. He didn't spend much time there, however, because Rory had been quick to leave, muttering things that were too indistinct to make out, and looking concerned. Flambé responded around the can against his lips.

"With your trainer. Apologizing," He took another sip, punctuating the end of his curt answer. In a last-second effort to add more detail, he continued with, "They're in Oak's building."

Jax nodded and set his can down so he could stand up, stretching his once battered body appreciatively once again. "Listen, it was good meeting you," he said, looking down at Flambé, "But I need to go haul Violet's ass back." Flambé's eyes darted up toward his fellow, and he nodded his goodbye.

"See you on the road," Flambé said, and returned to sipping his drink.

With the casual goodbyes with his new acquaintance out of the way, Jax turned and wandered toward the domineering form of Oak's laboratory towering over the few clusters of houses that made up Pallet Town. It took him barely a glance toward his arms as the muscles bulged beneath his flesh to notice how painfully lacking he was in musculature, and barely a second for his mind to piece together the thought that becoming a Charizard would take a long, long time from this moment. With the truth livid in his mind, he just managed to twist his features into something stiff enough to keep his mouth from breaking into an instinctual scowl at the cold hard facts.

Something small and devilish kept mocking him, perched in the back of his head, and chortling at his (somewhat) humiliating loss, continuously shattering each moment that Jax decided to pull his mood out of the quagmire and leaving him even more moody than usual. _I don't think I'll be in a good mood for a while, _Jax thought with a sigh, and at long last, he looked up and reached for the doorknob.

Just as his claw rested on it, it twisted around on its own accord, coming from on the other side of the door. The door swung open, nearly bowling Jax over if he hadn't stepped back, releasing the light of the incandescent bulbs streaming out with the sunlight around the silhouettes of two girls—one who was staring at Jax in confusion as she spontaneously messed with her panama hat, and the other, who was peering at him from around a bag of indistinct objects. All Jax could make out through the plastic of the bag was just a few masses of color and blurred shapes—but one object he could decipher was a bottle of Elmer's glue.

_What the hell? _Jax thought, as his eyes trailed up to meet the nearest girl's gaze—Rory's.

"I take it you two have been busy," he said dryly.

Rory nodded enthusiastically, grinning wildly in spite of Jax's ever-immortal sarcasm. "Oh, yeah!" she said, puffing out her chest proudly. She set the bag down on the ground, the bag nearly tilting over and spilling its contents all over the asphalt—although it did let Jax get a peek at what appeared to be pieces of perfectly symmetrically cut leather and the blades of a pair of scissors. "Vi'll show you in a bit, will ya?"

Violet turned her head towards Violet and plucked off her hat, holding it in front of her. She gave an affirming nod that made her messy hairstyle bob and spring to life after spending hours being trapped under her hat. "Absolutely!" she said. The girl's look was almost maniacally close to Rory's as the two exchanged vigorous, accomplished grins almost identical to one another's.

"But first," Rory said, "Jax, can I give you something?"

A coherent response barely made it out of his mouth before she took him by the claw and led him back inside the building, tugging him past the numerous aides and into another room, the room that was filled with containers. Rory's head pivoted from side to side, eyes darting from underneath the shadow of her cap, until she was finally satisfied with the confirmed privacy of the room and leaned down to meet Jax.

"Hey..." she started, reaching into her pocket, "You don't train much, do ya?"

She cut directly to the point. Wincing from once again being exposed to the horrible truth, Jax forced his head to move into a nod. Rory mimicked him, then pulled something out of her pocket—it was a CD, encased inside a pentagonal, clear, plastic container. Jax made out the word "TM" on it, right beside a complicated series of serial numbers. Rory grabbed Jax's hand and turned it palm-side up, settling the CD into his palm.

"This is a present, from me to you," she said cheerfully, then stood up, dusting off her lap for no reason other than visual effect. "And something to get ya by, so this little incident doesn't happen again for a LONG time."

Jax took a moment to just stare at it for a second before saying anything, his eyes tracing the characteristic steely, metallic sheen vaguely colorizing the CD. Rory promptly took notice of the analytical expression on his face and only smiled in return, moving her lanky legs into a confident gait all during her trip to the door. Jax gave the CD five second's worth more of his attention before he followed her back outside.

--

"Return!"

And with that command, Flambé's eyes moved up to meet the flash of red that shone out from the opened PokeBall in Rory's hand, giving one final smile and wave to Jax and Rory as the light swallowed him up in an instant, and siphoned him back inside of it. The PokeBall closed with a snap as Rory returned it to her belt. "Well," the girl looked up at Violet with a sheepish grin. "It's been fun for now."

"For now," Violet repeated, emphasizing the two words, "Because we'll see each other again, right?"

For the hundredth time that day Rory's grin seamlessly spread across her face. "Oh, you bet your pantaloons you will!" she said teasingly, lunging at the fellow girl. Before Violet could stop her she seized the brim of Violet's hat and pulled it down over her face, whereas in retaliation, Violet blindly groped for her own hat and, when she was sure she had the rim, pulled it back down her eyes.

The two girls adjusted their hats and exchanged their final goodbyes. "Sayonara!" Rory shouted, her voice reverberating as she skipped further and further away, through the path overgrown with tall grass that led out of the town.

As she pushed through the towering foliage, Violet cupped her hands over her mouth and called back, "See you at the next town!" Her message must have gotten through to Rory, because the final glimpse they got of her before she disappeared was her hand, gesturing everything she wanted to say to them in a single thumbs-up.

When she was finally gone, Jax and Violet stood together, in silence, for a moment, just staring at the bush, like they were expecting for her to suddenly rush back out at any moment and keep smiling at them. When no such thing happened, Jax looked to Violet, and finally asked, "This has been sort of bugging me," he started, "So here goes. What WAS it that you and Rory were doing in there?"

Aiolet blinked confusedly in response at first, but then laughed. "Oh, man, I forgot to show you!" she pulled her hat off of her head and leaned down to Jax's height, holding it close to him for his inspection. "See the band? Rory and I were messing with it, and we made that!" Violet patted the compartment on her backpack, now bulging with dozens of tiny, marble-shaped bulges completely stuffing it to the brim. "Since Rory gave me a lot of PokeBalls to catch Pokemon with, we made something to carry them with!"

Jax's eyebrow crooked as he carefully looked over the leather band encircling the hat's crown. It didn't take him long to find what modifications they had made—they had cut several slits in the band, that, if Jax poked his finger through and unfolded, formed a set of pouches. Each one was perfect size for a full-sized PokeBall of every variation—as the PokeBalls nestled comfortably in the first two out of the six pockets seemed to be a testament of. Both PokeBalls, however, were as hollow and empty as the day they were purchased—the first instance Jax understood, as he preferred to walk independently and out of his PokeBall.

Jax smirked as he returned the hat to Violet, who happily placed it back on her head. "I have to admit, that's pretty cool," he said, much to Violet's pride. "But why is Zeeg's PokeBall empty?" He jerked his thumb toward Violet's backpack, which was still slightly curved around the peculiarly shaped form of his Kakuna partner (as well as a few goods that Violet had stocked herself on, which probably formed a nice nest or insulation around the cocoon Pokemon).

Violet scuffed her foot against the ground and traced a few circles around her ankle sheepishly, her gaze casting guiltily downward, only emphasized by the size of her headgear (which she gave another compulsive tug on to completely seat it on her head). "I kind of think Zeeg likes it in my backpack. I'm not going to move him."

Suddenly, the girl beat her fist against her palm, a look of revelation on her face, like she had just remembered something very important. "Oh, but what did Rory want with you, huh?" she asked, giving an inquisitive tilt of her head.

Jax held the TM up for her to see, carefully turning it in the sunlight so the grey coloring would be seen even through the translucent plastic. "It's a TM. Technical Machine," he said. "It contains Steel Claw."

Violet carefully plucked the device from his claws and turned it in every angle for her to scrutinize—up, down, sideways, diagonally, the girl's eyes traveled everywhere, and when their quest was done, she tucked it into her pocket with a nod. "Oh, Rory told me about those," she said, nodding exuberantly, "I think I have some kinda container to hold it in, too. You think we'll need it?"

Jax gave a thoughtful hum as he stared firmly at the tall grass that waved welcomingly to him from across the field—an ironic use of description, when all Jax saw happen down that path was departure. "Probably," he said level-headedly, folding his arms behind his head, "I think we'll be needing it pretty soon…" he paused, absorbing his thoughts for a moment, "That was pretty good of Rory to do all of that."

Violet nodded, making the brim of her transformed hat flop comically around her teal-haired head, "Heck yeah," she said fondly, as her gaze lingered to the exit from Pallet Town as well, "It's pretty hard to find such awesome guys like him around."

Jax could do nothing else but stare blankly at his Trainer, too at a loss of words to correct her.

_**Chapter IV Completed…**_

**Author's Note: **Okay, this was my least favorite out of the chapters thus far, but it has its moments so I'm not pulling it through a complete revamping process. But if any of you dislike it, I apologize, and I promise you actual quality in the next chapter. Since, after all, a new character will be introduced.


	5. Run For Your Life

**Disclaimer: **Still don't own Pokemon, but I own Violet and the personalities of the characters, all with the exception of a temporarily absent rival character named Rory, who is the property of Alan G. Zendra of V: Run For Your Life

**--**

"_Self-conceit may lead to self-destruction.__" _

**Aesop**** (620 BC - 560 BC)**, _The Frog and the Ox_

A set of hazel eyes, swirled with orangey brown, stared up into the sky, greeted with the vision of only thick layers of overhanging foliage and the malachite glow of the sun through the countless leaves. This was the closest thing that qualified as a sky in the depths of the forest, and this was how she appreciated it.

She allowed a coy smile to curve the lips of her mouth as she adjusted her position on the branch protruding from the tree she called home to dangle down at the forest floor, illuminated by glowing patches of luminescent shamrock. _And to think, this is all yours. _Her level above the ground was considerable enough for her to get a decent front view of the grove surrounding her tree home, which she gave an almost appraising, fond stare. _Alllll yours._

An exultant sigh escaped her as she continued to stroke her ego like a lofty, overweight cat, her eyes misty as they followed the trails of light glistening through the air like lithe spotlights. It was just her and them—the lights, and the fireflies that were housed inside many of the trees here. Separated from the rest of the world, that was how it was destined to be—just her, queen of her territory, reigning high and mighty over a sea of lights, alone, to be never disturbed.

The first crunch she heard she dismissed, out of some corner of her mind that was still paying some attention to her surroundings, as just a tree rustling from the wind. It WAS slightly breezy after all, the slight stirring of the wind making the trees sway and a few purple-and-red strands of her head fur fall in front of her vision. The second—which came a split second after the first and was a few octaves higher in volume--managed to rouse her from her egocentric basking, where she was too irritated to come up with a reason.

As she struggled to follow the next, countless crunches that followed, in a staccato flow, she never realized how loud the last one she heard was—and probably forgot all about it when her branch started to lift up, making the springy wood under her lightweight form creak and shed splinters and flakes of chipped wood down onto an unseen form. Eyes wide, she struggled to balance herself with waves of her arms, but her efforts failed as she inevitably fell—and after plummeting a short distance, landed in a very ungraceful mound in the bushes below in a flurry of leaves.

"Ow," Violet hissed, staring unhappily down at her hand's splayed fingers, "I think I got a splinter…"

The Charmander standing at her side didn't look very interested in her predicament, his eyes instead locked firmly on the scribbles jotted down on the first page of the Electabuzz notepad in his claws. "Poke at it a bit, it'll fall out," he said absently, but his expression assumed one of alarm as he heard a muffled sound that he just barely managed to decipher.

Wheeling around on his heels to face Violet, he stared up at her with an eyebrow raised, "Did you just curse?" he asked, slightly shocked.

Violet looked up from furiously poking at her splinter. "Did I what?" she asked, completely oblivious.

Jax sighed, massaging at his head in between carefully listening out for any other unusual sounds. Some part of him told him something wasn't right, and it was screeching like a banshee at him. But no other sounds fell into his range of hearing beyond the scraping of leaves against bark and the distant whistling of the wind through the air.

"Never mind," he said with a negligent wave of his claw, "I must have imagined it."

Violet frowned at the bloated faction of skin around her stubbornly lodged splinter which, miraculously, was starting to surface. "Are you going crazy on me?" she asked as they quickly located the quickest route out of the clearing, and followed down it. "Because I don't think they have Pokemon asylums…"

Meanwhile, behind them, the air around the suddenly, eerily still bushes crackled and went up as a spear of lightning shot up into the air, throwing charred leaves in every direction as the concentration of light and electricity surged and rolled like a deep, venomous rumble.

Rising up onto her haunches, the figure—now covered in smoldering leaves after her fall--seethed and raged bitterly, the lightning around her rising to a white hot pitch as ever more sparks leapt from her pores. Clenching her paws into fists, she snarled, her words evenly paced, and filled with malice, "_They are so DEAD." _And she stomped the remains of the bush flat.

--

For whatever reason, at that exact moment, Violet felt the bare beginnings of a field of goosebumps break out over her skin, eroding the dark navy hairs prickling her tanned skin. Shuddering, she stared around nervously, eyes darting to and fro suspiciously.

Walking ahead of her was none other than her fiery companion, turning over a map in his clawed hands. Regardless of how busy his eyes and hands were, his ears managed to pick up the sudden halt in the sound of footprints he once heard from his traveling partner. Raising an eyebrow, he folded the map and looked to the girl.

"Are you coming, or are you just going to make friends with the foliage?" he asked coolly, much to the girl's annoyance.

Violet clenched her fists. "Shut up," she said, her off-colored pupils moving to a very suspicious-looking bush somewhere off to the side. "I just got a really bad case of cold chills."

Jax turned around to face her, the map held between two fingers. "Oh really?" he asked, without the slightest note of interest in his heavily deadpan voice. "And why should this be of any concern to me?"

Violet's eyes narrowed in between the frantic movements of her pupils, and the occasional, stiff shifting of her posture and feet. "Because we are all," she said, her voice gravely serious, "In horrible danger."

Jax stared at her for barely a moment before he rolled his eyes and started to turn away, swishing his tail behind him. He said nothing, but by supernatural senses or just from being able to catch the irritated sigh that escaped him, Violet knew he wasn't taking her seriously. Face contorting into one of frustration, she spread her arms wide and exclaimed, "I mean it! Really!"

Jax's eyes made another, bored revolution. "You know, they may not make asylums for Pokemon," he started absently, "But they make them for humans. How fortunate for you."

Violet snarled, pointing an almost accusatory finger at the Charmander's back. "Come on, I just felt something really weird! That is NOT a good thing!" She waved her arms for emphasis as she continued, despite the fact Jax had started to walk ahead, obviously ignoring her, "When I get cold chills, BAD THINGS happen. Really."

The Charmander only snorted, unamused and unconvinced. No other words graced Violet's ears, save for quiet mumblings that weren't even directed toward her.

Stubbornly, she pursued him, trying to keep up to the Charmander's pace. The sonorous crunching of grass punctuated each of her footsteps as she quickened her pace, each leapt decibel indicating another inch crossed. When she was walking alongside of him, she tried again, "No, really, I'm serious. Like, there was this one time, with this friend of mine, that when I got cold chills, the SKY," she spread her arms over her head for emphasis, gesturing to the leaves and barest patches of blue above, "started falling."

Finally, Jax said something as he irritably crunched the map back up into a neat little square. "Violet," he said, craning his neck over his shoulder, his sea green eyes narrowed incredulously, "The sky ISN'T going to fall."

Violet's arm waving became more frantic, as her facial expression warped into one of sheer panic. "But it FELL then!" she insisted. The Charmander only exhaled bitterly, shoulders sagging. "Really! One moment we were playing, the next moment we were being PELTED FROM ABOVE."

Jax at last whirled around to face her, the popping and crackling of many snapped blades of grass eliciting between his clawed toes. "Violet, you probably just were hit with a bunch of apples. There is NO WAY," he crossed his arms over his chest firmly, "I repeat—NO WAY, that the sky, will ever, EVER—"

Suddenly, a saffron blur whizzed vertically between Charmander and human, landing with a _plop_ in the grass, leaves twirling and fluttering in the air around it. Blinking, the two stared down at the conical Pokemon rattling from the impact.

A Kakuna.

"Oh shit," was the only exclamation that Jax could make, as the monotonous buzzing of many, angry Beedrills' wings hummed around them.

--

**Seven Minutes of Frantic Running Later**

"Are they gone?"

Violet shuffled, scooting closer to the inner, scratchy, wooden wall of the hollowed tree she and Jax had taken sanctuary in, her eyes shifting around toward a small knothole located beside her, framed in what little light was streaming inside. "I'm not looking," she said nervously, re-directing her gaze up toward the top of the tree. "YOU go check, I'm busy."

Her eyes met nothing but a rounded roof, blocking off the almost cylindrical shape of the walls, but the girl continued to stare, looking nothing short of horrified and apprehensive. Jax sighed and shuffled over, being as quiet as possible as his feet grazed the dried leaf-laden floor. Pressing his face to the wall, he strained to capture as much of a decent glimpse of the outside as possible.

There was no sign of any Beedrills, as the silence in the air indicated. Jax shoved himself further toward the knothole, carefully scratching at the rim of the hole until it had widened slightly, just enough for him to get a satisfactory view. Still no sign of any Beedrills. Letting out a relieved sigh, he pulled back, and wiped his forehead clean of sweat.

"Okay, they're gone," he said, then said, with the same familiar sarcasm that Violet was used to, "You can stop pissing yourself over the roof of our unofficial hideout, now."

Violet glared at him for split second before her eyes returned to their resting place. "I'm not taking any chances. Didn't you see what had happened? The sky started raining Kakunas, and we nearly got killed by Beedrills," she said, then quickly added, "Again."

Jax sighed, collapsing against the wall as he rubbed furiously his temples. "Listen, that had nothing to do with your crazy notions about the sky falling. That was just a stroke of bad luck is all," he turned to the exit of the tree's interior, a wide, but squat hole.

Crouching and pushing himself up and over the mound of dirt he and Violet had stockpiled before it, he broke free to the other side, and scraped away the dirt until the entrance was completely exposed. Violet nervously edged away from the tiny column of light that flowed in, still giving the roof skeptical looks in between avoiding the light. Jax finally gave up on waiting for her to exit on her own accord, and grabbed her by the arm, yanking her out into the open with a startled yelp from the girl.

Almost immediately, she raced for cover, diving behind a nearby bush in a flurry of leaves, much to Jax's annoyance. Sighing, he pressed his fingers against his temple again and massaged in a few, circular strokes, trying to fight off the headache that was almost completely at its peak. "Oh for the love of God, Violet, get out from the bush," he said with a negligent rub on his forehead.

Violet's only response was the rustling of leave as she tried to adjust her position, the grunt of pain as she accidentally poked herself with a stick as she did so, and a petulant, "I'm not going anywhere," she insisted, glaring at Jax through the leaves, "The freakin' apocalypse is coming, and I ain't leaving until it's over."

Jax could only stare in abject shock at the girl's idiocy, coming close to nearly turning away from her and venturing off without her, but eventually decided against it (somewhat reluctantly). "Oh come on," Jax muttered, folding his arms. "Get. Out. Of. The. Freaking. Bush." He enunciated every word between snapping intervals, and was halfway about to charge into her and barrel her out of the bush whether she liked it or not until, slowly, Violet rose above the bush, her pupils tiny pinpricks.

Jax grinned. "It's about time you got out of there. I—" that's when he realized that Violet wasn't listening to him at all, staring almost vacantly over his shoulder and the color draining from her face. Jax raised an eyebrow skeptically, waving his claw before her face. "Hello, earth to Violet?"

The girl didn't say anything, only looking all the more horrified until she reached over the prickling leaves and branches of the bush, grabbed Jax by the shoulders, and jerked his body around so he was facing behind him. Before Jax could protest, his eyes slowly turned up, gazing at the feathery bodies flapping their disheveled wings and glaring down at them with thinly-slit, intimidating eyes.

Spearows. And, worst of all, the largest of the pack, a tawny-feathered bird with the structure of a crane and a narrow beak, was hovering with mighty wing beats at the head of the flock—Jax immediately recognized it as a Fearow, and the almost hungry, angry gaze as it glowered down at them as nothing but trouble.

Leaning slowly back, his skin prickling from the many eyes, Jax whispered out of the corner of his mouth to the horrified Violet, "Okay. New plan. On the count of three, we run for our lives," he suggested, voice urging as he watched the sharp, curved talons of the birds glint sinisterly in the light.

Violet whispered back, biting her lower lip and moving as little as possible to not invoke the flock's attention, "I'm not going ANYWHERE," she hissed, "I'm HIDING in my bush."

"Violet, are you really this stupid?" Jax snarled, already getting fed up with her stubborn behavior.

Violet crouched back down, disappearing behind the bush. A frightened, tremulous tone murmured behind the wreaths of leaves, "Are YOU this stupid?" she countered repetitively, the leaves rustling impatiently.

Jax finally lost his temper, as he twisted his head over his shoulder to glare at the two eyes peering out from a gap in the leaves. "Violet, just get your ass out of the bush and RUN, capiche?" he snapped, "Before **I **end up killing you before these birds do!"

At last, Violet emerged from the bush carefully, her horrified expression exacerbating as she came beak-to-nose with the distant gazes of the notoriously temperamental birds. "Forget the counting," Violet said with a pathetic whimper, "We gotta get OUT OF HERE."

Jax, for once, had to agree with her there. "On the count of three…" he repeated.

He began the countdown, keeping his voice below a whisper, "One…"

Violet twitched uncomfortably, wringing her hands behind the bush as she carefully, suspiciously let her gaze flit back and forth to every bird.

"Two…"

Violet shifted her legs beneath her, trying her hardest to avoid the stiffness that shot up her leg, only allowing her the smallest of budges. Glancing down at her feet, she struggled to move them apart in between her scrutinizing of the bird Pokemon. Still struggling with her petrified legs, she finally muttered ashamedly, "…My legs won't move."

Jax froze in the middle of the word 'three' before he registered what Violet said, and tried his hardest to not let his jaw drop in disbelief. Instead, he settled for an angry, sarcastic comment. "Oh, wonderful," Jax snapped, nearly close to leaping on her and strangling her, "Before you know, those damn birds are going to swoop down at us when we least expect it…"

Violet's eyes narrowed at him. "Oh come on," she said bitterly, "Our luck isn't THAT bad…"

That was when the Fearow let out a hoarse, rasping cry into the air and dove down, folding its wings off to the side. The cry was repeated from every Spearow as, one by one, they followed in perfect execution, clawed feet extended. Both Jax and Violet's jaws dropped simultaneously, just before a terrified scream elicited from both their mouths, and they dashed off in a randomly selected direction, leaves from Violet's bush drifting in the air as the flock swooped down, maneuvering and weaving through the labyrinth of trees after their prey.

--

**An Hour of Frantic Running (Again) Later…**

"You know, we COULD have chosen a better hiding spot," Jax seethed beside Violet, both Pokemon and Trainer squished within the chamber of a hollowed out log. Despite the tight and tiny rooming they had in there, Violet had made a desperate dive into it when they had finally discovered a grove not being terrorized by the flock that nearly flew off with their heads.

Violet muttered a low 'ewww' as she edged her elbow away from a rather slimy piece of moss clinging to the rotting wood beside her, and pinched her nose shut, trying to block out the malodorous stench fizzling in the air. "Well gee," Violet said, her voice nasally due to her stifling her nostrils, "You didn't seem to complain when the birds were after us…"

Jax grunted out an irritated sigh as he once again adjusted his body, finding it impossible to locate a more comfortable spot. "Well gee," Jax said sarcastically, rolling his eyes, "Excuse me for finding the mushrooms growing inside this place disgusting."

Violet would have growled if she were capable of it, instead she nudged Jax down with her elbow, taking advantage with as much room as she was little granted with in order to push him away and press at the thin bark, breaking it open. Wiping her hand off of her sweatshirt, she peeked through the new perforation, squinting at the evergreen spreading wide around them.

Not a Spearow or their leader in sight greeted her vision, only the sound of distant cawing far, far away, echoing over the trees. Releasing an exhausted sigh of relief, Violet dropped flat against the lower wall as Jax pushed his way to the hole, blinking past the light. "They're gone," she said thankfully.

Violet would have pointed her finger to the sky if she weren't trapped beneath the Charmander, "Finally!" she said joyfully. "Now let's get our asses outta here."

"That's the best suggestion you've made all day," Jax agreed, nodding in her direction.

There was a moment of awkward shifting and kicking as Violet started to try and wiggle her way out from beneath Jax, the Charmander planting his claws on either side of her and trying to push himself back. Five minutes later, however, the two tired of it and could only remain stiff, incredibly irritated expressions on both of their faces.

"Jax?" Violet finally broke the tense silence, her green eye twitching.

"Yes, Violet?" Jax asked, gritting his teeth around a forced, almost insanely fake smile as his own cheek vibrated beneath his own, twitching eye.

"I think I'm stuck."

Jax let out a loud, defeated groan as he bashed his head against the wall beside him, slumping with an infuriated muttering of just about every curse that Jax had in his exhausted little mind. Violet remained stiff, looking back and forth shiftily. "Well," she finally said with a forced smile, "Look on the bright side!"

Jax's head swiveled around so he could properly glare at her. "WHAT. Bright. Side?" he demanded, shoving each word out of his throat and through his grit teeth.

Violet finally managed to break out into a grin as she shrugged her shoulders, "At least things couldn't get any worse."

_CRACK._

The pair fell silent, their pupils shrinking down into little pinpricks as they exchanged worried looks with stiff twists of their necks. Before either of them could say something, the loud crack was followed by another one—the one of many splinters breaking apart like little, wooden needles, and the snapping of wood.

At that moment, they only had one idea on their minds.

"LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!" Violet shrieked, squirming as vehemently as she was before, pushing and shoving and kicking her legs. Jax let out another grunt as one of her legs accidentally kicked into his stomach, just as he flung himself the best he could against her, pressing her body to the interior of the tree with another 'thud'.

"Hey, what's the big idea—" Violet started, trying to push herself back, only for Jax to shove her against the log again.

"JUST START PUSHING!"

And after Violet heard yet another crack, she was in no condition to argue.

Quickly, she pushed, hard, against the wall, Jax's claws landing on her back as he thrust his arms forward, tackling his body against hers as another crack rang out, following by a creaking sound as the log started to turn, nearly making Jax's body tumble around as it slowly started to roll forward jostling the two people as they leapt against it again. As the wood creaked, and finally bounced, it started to uncontrollably roll the more they pummeled at it, the world going by in green blurs before the hole in the wall. Almost simultaneous to a massive, crashing sound and the cacophonous crumbling of what sounded like many branches and twigs cracking in half. The blurred world as it passed around and around as the log rolled finally met something beyond just greens, what appeared to be a looming, jasper tower that steadily started to reveal itself as wood, just as Violet uttered an 'uh-oh'.

The log smashed right into it, snapping in half with yet another crack, a long, zigzagging canyon cut its way through the wood. The two inside it were a disheveled mess, laying sprawled out on the inside as they both struggled to keep themselves from throwing up. "That…" Violet said, pressing her hand against her paled mouth, "Was the scariest thing in my entire LIFE."

Jax gulped down a wave of bile that threatened to flow over his mouth, taking a deep, gagging sigh. "Well, at least we're not dead…" he said, eyes rolling briefly in the back of his head, "Just… terribly close to vomiting…"

Violet made another coughing sound as she writhed like a twitching cockroach beneath a sadistic three-year-old's magnifying glass, her face starting to flush with green. "I need to get out of here," she said in a tiny squeak. "Before I end up hurling on your chest…"

Jax's eyes widened, taking the threat as a serious action due to the sickened look on his face. "Oh no," he repeated, swallowing down another pint of bile, "Oh no. Don't you even dare."

Violet only shuddered, her hands clasped over her mouth.

That was the final straw. Hurtling his body against the light trickling like a wavering spotlight through the long, jagged hole, the wood burst around him, sending tiny pieces of moss and splinters raining down on his chest. His claws pawed through the hole, opening it farther and farther, scraping through the wood, until finally, it reached a large enough width for both of them to climb out. Leaping out of the hole, he nearly tumbled over the grass as his jellied legs straightened themselves out, this regain of his balance doing little to halt his wayward staggering. Violet herself slowly rose over the hole, nearly collapsing over the log as she tripped over the hole's rim.

"LAND!" she shouted triumphantly, elevating her body the best she could onto her trembling knees, "THANK GOD, -LAND-!"

Suddenly, a blast of a sizzling stench floated into her nose, making her cough and back off against the log. "What th' hell?" she asked, eyes searching for the source. Jax probably had easily caught the smell as well as he crouched beneath a floating, stagnating cloud of black over his head, coming from the ruins of a completely charred tree tangled amidst its crumbled, smoking limbs. Violet's eyebrows arched as she slowly inspected the three, pinching her nose. "How did THAT get there?"

Jax stared at the tree, his eyes combing up the black-polluted tree, splinters tumbling around it like peeling ashes. "I have… no idea," he admitted, swatting through another curling wisp of smoke until it finally dissolved, "This could NOT have happened on its own."

Violet swaggered over to another tree, turning slowly around with an exhausted sigh as she pressed herself against the tree, sinking down. "I don't care how it happened," she muttered, "I just—" suddenly, her eyes opened, the pupils tiny. Something wasn't right.

Slowly, she felt around her shoulder, only brushing her shoulder, not the strap that normally held the backpack to her back.

Violet's eyes widened until they reached a size where Jax suspected would probably be very uncomfortable, the girl's expression turning into shocked dismay, almost completely turning her entire face into a taut, pale version of her normally round and chubby face.

Jax inched his way over to the girl, leaning down somewhat with a surprisingly concerned look on his face. "Violet?" he started, starting to feel slightly disturbed by the ghostly appearance of her expression, "Are you okay?"

Silence.

Until it was finally broken as Violet released a bawling cry, leaping to her feet and twisting her body this way and that, craning her neck over her shoulder at every angle as they searched for her backpack. "MY BACKPACK!" Violet shouted, words nearly becoming blubbering nonsense as she started looking around the tree, darting around the roots and pulling down lower branches as though she expected to see it hanging from a twig. "IT'S GONE! AND THAT MEANS ZEEG IS TOO!"

Jax gnawed at his lip, wincing. He hadn't noticed the disappearance of Violet's backpack at all ever since their escapade started, meaning it could have been dropped anywhere in the forest—the dash from the Beedrills and the Spearows, their time spent inside the tree, hell, she could have even dropped it before they dove inside the log, but as he watched her hold up half of the log the best she could and staring into it, he knew that it wasn't there from the increasingly horrified look on Violet's face. He started to open his mouth as he approached her the most he dared to, thinking of something to say that would comfort her. Unfortunately, he thought of nothing as the girl distastefully dropped the rotting log and picked up the other one, calling inside the hollow surface in a thin echo, "Hello? Zeeg!"

Either Violet was getting desperate, or she had completely gone off the deep end.

Suddenly, a distinctly feminine, husky voice shouted from above, followed by the telltale crackle-and-pop that sounded a lot like a lightbulb overflowing with energy, and then blowing sky high. "OH FOR CRYIN' OUT LOUD!" Immediately, both Charmander and girl's head turned up skyward, their eyes simultaneously meeting the creature standing on another, elongated branch.

A low, chattering snarl vibrated, low and vicious, before the creature—just a vaguely recognizable silhouette towering high over them on its branch perch—leapt from its tree in a flash of yellow, turning its body in mid-air and embedding its nails into the bark, grinding her way down until she leapt off and landed.

Violet's eyes broadened, her green-and-blue eyes respectively looming beneath her raised eyebrows. Jax himself briefly shared her expression, up until he instantly recognized the rather familiar species in nearly a split-second. Aloud, he repeated it incredulously, eyebrow lifting. "A Pikachu?" he exclaimed.

Jax said it was a Pikachu, and Violet recognized the Pokemon as a Pikachu, and that Pokemon probably would have said it was a Pikachu if you asked it very nicely, but Violet personally thought she looked more like a work of abstract art more than any Pikachu.

It was a vaguely rodent-esque creature, with mottled fur that was probably once yellow but now stained with a faint burgundy hue, more than likely the consequential residue of the brightly colored myriad dyes and paints covering her body in the form of various shapes and makeshift markings and streaks in her scruffy headfur. Upon further inspection these all seemed to be made from berry juice—the very scent permeated her thickly, like a swarming, aromatic cloud. Aside from her handmade markings she had brown stripes on its back and at the root of her lightning bolt-shaped tail, and red, round pads on her chubby cheeks. Her ears, like a Pikachu, were long and pointed, but the left one, probably from a predator, was sporting a rather large tear shaped like a bitemark that nearly severed that few inches of her ear in width.

_Jeez, either a rock star lost his Pikachu, or she's part of some weirdass tribe of vicious Pikachus, _Violet thought, then stifled a gulp, obviously not liking the mental image she was getting of thousands of little Pikachus, adorned in the same outrageous style of bright colors and mussed fur, lunging toward her and sacrificing her to some powerful forest deity.

_It could happen, _Violet mentally insisted to herself, before what little parts of her brain that had somehow dedicated themselves to intelligent guidance could dismiss that as hogwash. _It could—_

Then she saw it—the unusual shape, held behind the Pikachu's leg as it dragged on the ground, slightly shaped like a cocoon, and with bright colors and trinkets festooning it that she was easily able to see its characteristics even though it was overshadowed by the Pikachu's diminutive form. It took her a bit of squinting, but finally, Violet's eyes widened and her eyebrows raised to the top of her head, as her mind, kicked into overdrive by sheer excitement, determined its identity.

"MY BACKPACK!" Violet exclaimed, half-way ready to charge at the Pikachu, knock her down, snatch her beloved backpack, and start bludgeoning her with it.

Driven by a sudden jolt of courage (either stupidly or bravely), she started to open her mouth to threaten the Pikachu , until it hit her like an enormous, ethereal boxing glove.

Her mind rewound itself all the way back throughout the day, playing out scene by scene in quick progression—the falling Kakuna, the Spearow flock and their Fearow leader, the tree that nearly collapsed on top of her and Jax in a mound of snapped, splintered, charred wood, and the backpack that was stolen by someone in the confusion…

The Pikachu stared at them from beneath her unusually styled, brightly streaked, lank bangs, looking playfully confused until a grin that was fit for a Cheshire rather than a Pikachu spread across her face when she noticed Violet's horrified transfixion on the backpack in her hand. Smirking, she lifted the backpack in front of her, casually fingering one of the straps, while the other dangled beneath it.

"Oh what, you mean this old thing?" she asked with feigned innocence, her eyes turning into green-brown, glistening orbs that would be capable of entrancing any Trainer with her unassuming attitude, that was, unless she had just tried to kill and had stolen. "The jig is up."

Jax, meanwhile, had seen the backpack as well, and his mind clicked out every bit of information that he could possibly glean, until he reached the same resolution as Violet did. It didn't take him long to reach a conclusion. Eyes widening, then narrowing back down, he snarled, remembering the smoke eliciting from the charred bark tree that nearly killed them as it was sent down.

"YOU!" Jax snarled, "YOU'RE the one who's been trying to kill us!"

Violet, too enraged and emotionally devastated by the separation of her and her backpack, seemed to have forgotten about the attempted murders the moment her eyes locked onto it. "YOU'RE the one who stole Zeeg and my BACKPACK!" she yelled, infuriated.

The Pikachu merely stood still before them, her lanky arms folded over her chest nonchalantly, with perhaps the most accurate impersonation of Jax's current expression that Violet had ever seen. "Oh gee, aren't you the smart one," she said with a roll of her hazel eyes. "Was it THAT obvious? Or did the backpack tip ya off?"

"Give. It. BACK," Violet snapped almost animalistically, every syllable an unillustrated threat, "NOW."

"Violet, shut up for a second and get your eyes off of your damn backpack," Jax snarled to the girl, who glared at him in response with a look that betrayed her true bitterness in favor of being accompanied by a childish pout.

The Charmander's head snapped around to the Pikachu, his eyes blazing. "YOU are the one who's been trying to kill us!" he accused her in a daggered, enraged tone.

His only given response was just a nearly manic grin, accentuated by the curls and sharp edges of the berry-made markings on her face. "Yeah, yeah, yeah," she said absently at first, but her expression hardened, much like the gaze of her eyes, making them seem like serrated metal. "And YOU TWO are the asshats who had to waltz your way into MY territory!"

"Wait wait wait, hold the effin' phone," Violet interrupted the glare contest between Jax and the Pikachu before Jax opened his mouth. The Pikachu was around two feet shorter than her, but returned the vicious stare to Violet with something that would have made a Rhydon cower in fear. "What kind of crazy-ass Pikachu ARE YOU?"

She pushed against the back of her hat, tilting it almost confidently forward—at first glance it was almost an overconfident gesture, but in reality, Violet's mind kept shrieking out every dirty word in her prepubescent vocabulary as she hoped to God that the rodent didn't electrocute her there and then.

The Pikachu's red cheeks—one painted over by a long, curved purple slash painted from across it to the Pikachu's eyebrow, the other overlapped by another, vivid orange, spiked ring marking that encircled the lower half of her eye—sparked defensively, paper-thin bands of electricity leaping from them. "The kind that's REALLY PISSED OFF at your little parade through _my _grove!" She growled, hissing through her sharp teeth.

Before Jax could berate Violet for bumping into his conversation, Violet countered with a smug, accomplished tone as she folded her arms before her chest, puffing herself up and even escalating herself on her toes to fully illustrate the height difference between her and the two-foot-and-a-half Pikachu. Once more, she ended up cutting off what would have been a sarcastic comment at her the instant a mere syllable made it out of his mouth.

It was then that Jax realized his life was utterly forfeit when Violet started talking.

"YOUR territory?" Violet repeated incredulously, forcing out a laugh that sounded more like something out of a badly-acted horror movie, "-YOUR- territory?" She snickered, jerking her thumb back to the surrounding trees, grass, and bushes surrounding them for emphasis, even toward the green, smooth highlights that the light provided. "I don't see your name on it."

The Pikachu only stared quizzically at her comment for a few seconds before she said aloofly, like Violet had just said something unthinkably outrageous, "Oh no, we don't use NAMES to claim our territories…" she said as-a-matter of factly, maybe even casually.

It was Violet's turn to stare in confused shock, her brain working overtime as it concluded with an answer that made her skin turn slightly pale, and nearly made her jaw collapse like a sagging loop of bone as her mouth started to fall open. "…" Violet stared over her head at Jax, looking completely shocked.

She wasn't the only one. Jax dropped his head into his hand, releasing a sigh muffled by his palm that Violet was barely able to decipher as "oh Lord, give me strength", or he just could have been cursing. Finally, Jax looked up, looking at the Pikachu as she proudly mimicked Violet's original position, leveling her up closer to his height.

Finally, Jax ceased his awkward staring and waved his claws, grunting, "Enough of this. Hand over the backpack and we're OUT OF HERE," he said curtly, not like he was trying to negotiate with the Pikachu, but like he was barking out orders. He extended his hand out expectantly, his claws gesturing inward, like they were beckoning for the backpack to just hop out of the Pikachu's arms, scuttle over, and land in his hand.

Nothing up his sleeve, all bow before the Amazing Jax the Magician, available for both birthday parties and funerals.

"Yeah!" Violet echoed, setting her hands on her hips almost sassily, the arrogantly smug expression returning to her face, "Hand over the backpack, sister, or face the consequences."

What the consequences were specifically, she had no idea. Her first plan was to find something big and heavy to hit her over the head with. Maybe Jax, if she could pick him up, but she wasn't really sure about whether or not he would appreciate being used as a blunt weapon.

Once more, Jax's expression sunk, and he slapped his forehead with his palm, drawing it down his face in frustration. "Xnay, Violet. XNAY," he snapped through his grit, sharp teeth, the seething glare he gave Violet through his spread fingers practically screaming, _'Oh no, what has my idiot of a trainer gotten me into this time?'_

The almost insane grin once more appeared on the Pikachu's expression, nearly multiplying in the maniacal factor bit by bit, her teeth white and clenched. "Well," she started, laughing, "That sounds like an invitation to me."

Moving fast enough before either of them could react, the Pikachu tossed away the backpack, throwing it into a patch of tall grass as the flaps and straps wilted around it, the Pokemon keychains jingling. With just a mere step, she rocketed forward like a yellow bullet as she kicked herself forward, her form blurred. Jax had barely any time to react as Violet yelped at the incoming Pikachu and dove out of her range, nearly tripping over her sandals several times in one minute from how frantic her movements were. Twisting out of the way, with a blast of wind the Pikachu streaked past Jax, her fur bristling and nearly glowing with a faint yellow light.

Her body nearly collapsed against a tree, but as she twisted into the air, her feet collided with the thick trunk of the tree, making her body buckle. Just watching the Pikachu move so fast made Violet's stomach bubble almost sympathetically, but her landing managed to end with a pump of her legs that launched her off, once again sent her speeding at them. Yelling in panic as she saw the sanguine-stained blur coming at her like an electrified cannonball out of the corner of her eyes, Violet's mind hardly had the chance to organize a proper escape plan before her feet got the better of her and she started to run forward, as the distance between the speeding Pikachu and her pathetic gait rapidly closed.

As her footsteps grew louder, hammering into Violet's eardrums alongside her riotous crackling of lightning, Violet's thoughts grew ever more louder and faster until they were just mental rambling, barely coherent prayers, _Andyea, asIwalkthroughtheshadowofthevalleyofdeath..._

With a girlish scream, Violet heard the popping of sparks elicit from the Pikachu as she almost smashed into Violet, and, looking fearfully over her shoulder, she nearly screamed again as the Pikachu slapped her feet against the ground and once more barreled toward her with twice as much speed, sparks trailing behind her.

But when one is so focused on one thing, it's hard to concentrate on anything else—say, the surroundings. Fortunately for Violet, that fact managed to work into her favor. As the Pikachu's body started to smash into Violet's, the yelping girl would have been sent flying unless her toes scuffed the rocks protruding from the ground, making her unceremoniously topple to the ground with a sonorous _crack _of many broken blades of grass beneath her flattened body. Violet gasped as the Pikachu whizzed over her body, the Pikachu cursing loudly as she tried to skid to a perfect halt.

She turned her body around and planted her feet as she ungracefully landed, digging her claws deep into the ground as the speed started to leak away from her, leaving nothing but static crackling in the air behind her path, tracing a long line of electrified air. "Dammit!" the Pikachu exclaimed, mumbling a few other curses that probably would have been best left off unrepeated.

She finally stopped, the earth uprooted by thick divots in the ground under her skidding paws, scattering grass and chunks of dirt about. "You're going DOWN!" she threatened loudly towards Violet, who cried out another gasp as the Pikachu started to break into a run again, her legs quickly becoming blurs—

--that was when an all-too-familiar orange leg kicked out in front of her, feet tangling behind the heel blocking her and making the Pikachu drop to the ground, chin smacking into the ground. Wearily, she started to open her eyes as the dizziness whirling in her head started to fade away, and let out a growling, "YOU!" as her vision met those of Jax as he stood almost triumphantly above her.

"I gotta hand it to you," Jax said with a smirk that tugged at the corner of his mouth, "You can turn yourself into a freakin' bullet if you'd like to, but it's so easy to trip you up. Sad."

The Pikachu's ears sagged on either side of her head, her eyes narrowing down into thin slits. "Oh," she said, a twisted smirk starting to appear on her face as once more the red spots on her cheeks started to glow with fluctuating, twisting halos of dancing bands of electricity, illuminating the curves of her face in amber. "You've just made the biggest mistake of yer life, pal."

Jax's eyes had easily spotted the beginnings of the electric attack when a few, smoldering specks of golden, fading light flew and sizzled onto his skin, but unfortunately for him, his awareness came just a second too late. Mouth stretching wide in a loud, trilling cry, the Pikachu pumped ever more lightning from her cheeks, pouring them over her body as they circulated and jumped from the red spots like a churning vat of glowing saffron. Finally, in a nearly split-second movement, she released a tremendous shriek as her fully encompassed body tensed, the fur bristling like millions of little lightning rods, and a great, whip-like lance of crackling, wavering lightning emerging from the aura and lashing out in a blaze of golden.

With an ear-splitting clap, it smashed into Jax, throwing sparks and bands of lightning about as he was sent flying with a scream across the field. As the electricity singed at his flesh and still crackled and sibilated about in the air, Jax's back connected with a nearby tree, sending splinters flying as the bark buckled under Jax's collision. Groaning, and still carrying the remnants of the slowly fading lightning strike, he slumped to the ground, twitching on the charred grass.

Over near the Pikachu, she laughed vociferously as she watched her enemy go down, and her laugh grew ever louder as she sped past the tall grass that currently housed a horrified Violet, the girl's head peeking out of the grass as she leapt past, making the grass rustle. Blue and green eyes widened in shock as she witnessed Jax's shaking form, struggling to move despite the paralysis crippling him, up until the Pikachu completed her charge and slammed her whole body against Jax's, driving him further against the tree and making ever more splinters and chunks of aging bark topple to the ground and spray through the air.

Jax yowled in pain, arms twitching reflexively, his eyes shut tight—but this did little to conceal his gaze from the sudden series of pops and cracks as the Pikachu gathered up more electricity in her lithe little body, and the bright yellow glow as it formed yet another aura.

The eyes opened in terror as the Pikachu glowered down at Jax, and steadily, she clenched her fists and let out another, wailing shout as she began to harness the power, growing brighter and brighter around her and the lightning arcing and warbling grew ever more tempestuous.

That was, until Violet's whole body broke through the grass, the waving blades slapping against each other and waving about, light glistening off of the tall blades in rigid curves and curling strands. Violet charged out, breathing heavily in a half-hearted effort to combat the fear that nearly made her freeze in place, forcing her body to sprint across the field as fast as she could. It was when she skidded to a halt when the Pikachu had started to unleash yet another Thundershock, that she cupped her hands over her mouth and said in a loud bellow, echoing through the gap of her hands.

"JAX! EMBER!"

Jax's eyes glazed over slightly, widening to the size of dinner plates as he saw the Pikachu spin around, a furious expression on her face, and Violet, edging away from the Pikachu inch by inch, barely able to move her stiffened, chubby legs across few centimeters of grass and dirt. "No no no," she said, holding her hands up defensively, "DON'T kill me. DON'T. Really. Please don't?" The moment the Pikachu stepped forward, she started babbling out excuse and things said so fast it was nearly incoherent in rapid-fire, still crossing her arms over her head as her stalker's cheeks started to generate electricity again.

A low growl vibrating in the back of his throat, Jax's fists clenched against the ruined bark of the tree he was pressed against, and he swung his tail out, roaring. The Pikachu, suddenly realizing Jax's presence again, turned back around with eyes almost as large as his had become, forgetting all about pursuing Violet as she divebombed back into the grassy sanctuary. As his roar scaled the octaves and his body started to radiate with faint pulses of heat, Jax's tail flame started to shrivel down.

Then, when it was almost just a tiny flicker, it burst into an enormous shock of blazing red, spreading orange light underneath and around the massive flame. Twisting his body around, Jax's roar warped into a snarl as his tail lashed across the Pikachu's chest, bright hot flame whipping along her fur and showering her with a hail of razor sharp particles of red and sinuous fire. The Pikachu staggered and yelled as her fur burned and her flesh scathed, the lightning around her starting to flash intermittedly like the dying light of an ancient lantern.

At last she nearly fell over, and this was the opening Jax needed, clawing his way to his feet and trying to steady himself, he gyrated around clumsily, the growling never ceasing from his throat, even as he continued to pummel her over and over again with the tail, sending scraps of flame crawling down her body and winding through the crispy fur, and showering her again and again with drops of glowing magma. With a rumbling growl he lunged, swinging his arms down as the claws raked through her skin with a shriek torn from the raw throat of the Pikachu. In retaliation, all she could do was stagger to and fro, pivoting about dangerously, and nearly getting knocked down by the relentless barrage as, finally, the electrical aura short-circuited, flashing out of existence with a thunderous _POP._

She wavered on her feet, stumbling and almost toppling over as the sound exploded in her eardrums, until Jax delivered the final blow—grabbing her by her shuddering shoulders forcefully and thrust his knee into her chest, sinking it deep into her belly. The Pikachu made a choking, gagging sound as she nearly dropped to her knees, clutching her stomach and spittle flying from her mouth, only for him to withdraw back. He whipped his tail around one last time, throwing all his energy into that final stroke, his tail flame being no more than a fiery crescent as she was bombarded with ever more embers like plummeting comets.

As the final embers sprinkled on her skin, gnawing on her with sharp, simmering jaws, like tiny, flaming parasites, she finally slumped, eyes rolling back into her head, and was sent flying back with a roundabout punch to the face. With a _thud, _she landed, back-first, in the grass, where she spiraled downward into unconsciousness.

A blue-haired figure poked her head out of the wall of grass, scraping aside the tall blades of green as she carefully looked over the two Pokemon. First, her eyes moved to the Pikachu's body, eyeing her with a suspicious glare, but after barely a second she turned her attention to Jax. Gulping down a glob of what felt like solidified mucus, a panicked Violet rushed out of the grass, her backpack once again swung over her shoulder.

"Jax!" she shouted, running over to the injured Charmander, her eyes wide as she inspected his wounds, "Are you okay? Holy hell, you look terrible…" She punctuated her words with a wince as Jax groaned again.

Jax winced as he looked down on the various, charcoal-hued burns that still were recovering from the lightning pumped into them, and decided that it probably wouldn't be best to argue when she was absolutely right. Right then, anyway, looks didn't matter. Healing did, however.

"Potion," Jax said simply, leaning against the tree in an attempt to keep him from falling over as the world started spinning around on its hinges, transforming shapes, contours, details, into just blurry colors melting about into a squished mass of hues. Groaning, he continued, gulping nervously. "Do you have a Potion?" It was getting harder to speak. It was most likely that Jax would pass out, the physical strain of the combat being far too great for a new fighter like him to be subjected to.

Violet thought for all but a second before she was interrupted by Jax's eyes glazing over even more until the pupils were just sea green hazes, trapped behind veils of mist, and his condition came more obvious as he nearly passed out as his body craned over and slouched, only for him to try and force himself awake again. Not about to take it anymore, Violet slipped off her backpack and unzippered the top, looking down at Zeeg's still form that had remained in the backpack.

_Great, the Pikachu didn't throw him away, _she thought gratefully, reaching into a compartment that was located nearby. After doing some hasty rummaging through a few random items (such as a Scyther action figure, some marbles, a sock monkey, and a book on Pokemon Training for Dummies) she withdrew her hand, holding out a white and purple spray bottle and, as she looked into another pocket, she removed an indistinct item in the other hand.

Standing up and walking over to Jax, she held up the potion and said, "Alright, I have it," she said, privately guessing that she would need to spray it on his injuries.

A nearly delirious Jax held out his arm toward Violet, where one of the more nasty burns ravaged his skin, making Violet wince sympathetically. She quickly held out the bottle and pulled the trigger, spraying a fresh blast of a crystalline green salve onto the blackened skin.

Shaking it in her hand, she aimed it toward the other injuries—one of which was a nasty bruise from being hammered into the tree—and started to get to work on Jax, nodding to the slowly fading injuries doused in Potion acknowledgingly. Jax himself was starting to feel much better, his strength returning, but his eyelids still remained half-closed over his sleepily clearing eyes as though they were weighed down with boulders.

"How's that?" Violet asked, as she carefully sprayed another burn on his sore knee, then parted after giving him a once-over. Twirling the half-empty bottle on her fingers like it was a gun, she blew against the top of the nozzle like she had just whisked away some sort of invisible smoke rising from it with a proud look on her face.

Jax looked down at his arms, an eyebrow raising as he scrutinized his body. He still felt sore and exhausted, but the pain of the injuries were gone—anything else that they might have missed could be removed during a night at the Pokemon Center. "Not bad," Jax said, probably the closest thing to a 'thank you' Violet could have expected, "You're a really good eye with that thing." He rubbed his shoulder, where another scorch mark had miraculously disappeared, as though to emphasize that statement.

Violet snickered, and cocked the Potion bottle like a gun. "I'm the fastest healer in Kanto," she bragged, not forgetting to accent her voice with a rather good impersonation of a western movie star she had seen with her parents. "Or that could because I don't know any healers…" she said out of the corner of her mouth before her mirth was replenished, "So thus I'm the winner by default!"

"Well, I still have more Potion to use," Violet said, shaking the bottle at him, "So I'll be right back."

Jax stared at the bottle before she pulled it out of his range and whirled around—he could hear the liquid sloshing around inside of it, and he had a sinking feeling as for who that last portion was intended. Unfortunately, Jax's fears were right as he saw Violet lean down near the Pikachu's body, and watched her spray another splash onto the bruise on her face, which slowly vanished as her face was carefully restored.

"Oh no, what the heck are you doing?" Jax exclaimed, aghast, "That Pikachu almost killed us! Are you _crazy?"_ He pointed in horror to the Pikachu laying stiffly in a crumpled position, thin trails of smoke rising in curling wisps from her burnt fur and flesh.

Violet ignored him for the most part as she shot away at some of the dappled injuries caused from smaller embers, until when she finally spoke, her voice was clearly distracted. "She'd better not kill us, or I'D kick her ass," she reassured him, then muttered, "And we need more Pokemon, that's what Rory said. The Pikachu really seems pretty strong, so maybe we can get her help. That's what a Pokemon Trainer DOES, right?"

Jax sighed again and scratched behind him at the nape of his neck. "This is insane," he mumbled, but no matter how much he tried to dissuade Violet from what was, in his opinion, a suicidal choice, the girl remained adamant. He was forced to give up when she finally finished patching her wounds, and when Violet exposed the PokeBall she had in her other hand as she set the empty bottle down.

Violet stared down at the Pikachu for a moment, then pressed a button on the ball, making it expand to a larger size. As Jax backed away from the unconscious Pikachu, still staying untrustworthy of her, he walked away to wait at the tree until Violet was done. He wasn't going to make a spectacle of it, and he most certainly hoped that Violet's decision wouldn't lead to him having to get beaten up again after trying to save her ass.

Violet held the PokeBall aloft, stepping away from the Pikachu as she juggled it in her hand. After a good bit of aiming, she finally twirled around and tossed the PokeBall at her with a shout of, "PokeBall, GO!"

The ball started to descend on the Pikachu's prone body before it froze in mid-flight, straightening itself out and hovering before her. The button on the PokeBall started to glow with a faint red light as it opened, and extended a bright beacon of red light down onto the Pikachu, swallowing and spreading across her form until she was completely enshrouded with the light. The body suddenly started to be shaped into a more compact form just as it was drawn inside the still opened PokeBall, and it finally closed, dropping back onto the ground.

It didn't budge at all, the low clicking as the lock on the ball rang out from the interior of the PokeBall, signaling the successful capture.

Holding up the PokeBall from the grass and flipping it into her opposite hand, Violet smirked widely, then removed her hat, slipping it into the third pouch on the modified hat band. "Alrighty!" she said happily, turning to Jax with a grin on her face as she adjusted her hat, "Let's get to Pewter City, already!"

She turned around on her heel to face a random direction that she had randomly picked as the proper path out of the forest, then pointed off into a the trees, jauntily crowing out a single word: "ONWARD!" before she marched past a skeptical Jax and into the forest, where she promptly walked straight into a tree.

Which happened to be home to a hive of Beedrills.

**To be Continued…**


	6. Considerations

**Disclaimer: **Yep, I STILL don't own Pokemon, or the universe created by the geniuses at Nintendo. All I own is the personalities of the characters and Violet—and Rory belongs to Alan G. Zendra.

I figured that I oughta thank you guys for all the views and the reviews—you guys really are the best, you know that? You guys keep me going on with this! D

**Chapter VI: Considerations**

**--**

"_Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much."_ Oscar Wilde (**1854 - 1900**)

"We're almost there."

The announcement was proudly stated by Violet as she, wearing a grin on her face almost the size as the brim of her hat, stared out before her. The trees that once crowded the forest and blocked out the light were starting to break apart, allowing the dirty path tracing through the grass to lead beyond the forest to the destination that Jax and Violet had risked life and limb to reach.

Pewter City. They hadn't seen it yet as it was kept elevated by platform by platform of squat steps, arranged like a miniature staircase beside the swaying patches of tall grass and bushes. But as they broke through the forest, privately celebrating their arrival, the light turned to silvery streams as the moon hung in the blackened sky, twinkling perforations speckling the air. Night time. And after the events that haphazardly occurred hours ago, neither of the travelers were in the mood for even more wandering when their feet still throbbed and their eyelids grew heavy.

Violet stumbled slightly, rubbing at her eyes. "Am I the only one who feels exhausted?" she asked sarcastically, plucking a small bit of crust from the corner of a green eye. "At all?"

Jax folded his arms, shivering from the cold atmosphere as an errant breeze slapped his body. "Not really," he admitted, "But I just think we should go to the Pokemon Center to spend the night…"

Violet raised an eyebrow thoughtfully. "Why do ya say that?" she asked, tilting her head.

Jax merely glared weakly in response, his eyes too tired to make a credible scowl. "Oh, lemme think," he said sardonically, even his trademark sarcasm being as low as his voice. He pointed to Violet's hat as he crossed his free arm over his belly. "We still have little miss Murderer in our company, remember?"

The girl defiantly set her hands on her hips. "Isn't she in the PokeBall?" she asked, then said snottily, "It's not like she can break out…"

For a moment, an almost drearily glaze spread over her eyes, and she bit her lip as her mind pondered the situation that she hadn't thought of. Keeping her teeth clamped on her lip, she muttered a, "Can she?" Her eyes moved from side to side suspiciously, her eyebrows furrowing.

Jax's palm pressed against his face as he managed to swallow a yawn before it exited his throat. "Listen, no matter how sealed she is," Jax started, removing his hand and pointing a finger towards Violet, who was now holding the Pikachu's PokeBall in her hand and glaring at it, like she was about to start to interrogate it. "She still tried to kill us."

Violet's eyes moved up to Jax, and she blinked curiously before her gaze returned to the PokeBall. "You're right," she conceded with a sigh, much to Jax's surprise, "But hey…" Suddenly, the enervated look on her face dissolved under another confident grin, and she slipped off her backpack and unzippered it as she set it on the ground, just enough for the Kakuna's' head to pop out. "Zeeg, what do YOU think?" Violet asked.

At that moment, Jax felt like finding something large to bludgeon Violet with as she expectantly waited for the Kakuna's response.

"Violet, for the love of God, he can't talk," Jax said, every word in his sentence laced with annoyance.

And true to Jax's word, Zeeg said absolutely nothing as Violet continued to stare relentlessly at him, up until her expression brightened as she completely ignored Jax. "What was that?" she asked, lifting the Kakuna to her ear like a conch shell.

Instead of hearing the ocean inside of it, apparently, Violet heard something as her expression widened. "Yes?" she repeated, almost incredulously, but her short-lived unconvinced attitude faded a few seconds after she held the Kakuna out in front of her. "He-" she began, her voice nothing short of resplendent, "Said YES."

All Jax could do was stare in disbelief at Violet, trying to keep his jaw from dropping.

--

Five minutes later, they managed to organize a camp out of some of the blankets that Violet had bundled up in her backpack's bottom, and start a fire on a pile of sticks Violet clustered together with Jax's tail flame. Taking her seat on a rock, Violet set her backpack on her lap and happily petted it as Jax sat nearby, looking utterly sordid and somewhat cheated from Violet relying on a mute Kakuna.

But those dirty glances hardly lasted a minute before his eyes shifted to the PokeBall resting near Violet's thigh on a small ledge on a neighboring rock. Narrowing his eyes, he managed to keep himself from growling at the suspicious PokeBall. _I don't care what Violet says, I'm going to stay awake until I'm absolutely positive that that Pikachu won't break out, _he determined, struggling to keep his eyes awake and focused on the PokeBall.

Suddenly, Violet stretched her arms languidly over her head, mouth opening wide in a yawn. As Jax's eyes snapped to her, Violet zippered the backpack shut and set it aside, walking to the blanket she was going to rest on with the Pikachu's PokeBall in hand. "Jeez Jax, it's late," she said, her voice heavy, "Aren't you going to bed?"

Jax's sea green pupils managed one last glance at the PokeBall in Violet's hand before he said firmly, "I'll go to sleep eventually," he said, secretly hoping that he wouldn't end up falling asleep. When he was absolutely sure that the Pikachu wouldn't break out, THEN he would rest. "Just rest, alright?"

Violet rolled her eyes and held up her hat, tucking the PokeBall in its respective pouch besides Jax's and Zeeg's. "Suit yourself," she said, trudging toward her blanket with her hat in one hand and the backpack in the other. "See ya tomorrow," she set the hat near her blanket, while she kicked off her sandals and laid down on her makeshift bed, clutching the backpack as she scooted aside just enough for Jax.

Jax sighed and let his vision droop down to his legs, hanging beneath him. "See you then," he echoed, his voice low and drowsy. As he watched Violet shift to and fro until she reached a more comfortable position, he felt his resolve start to fall along with his eyelids, especially when she fell asleep.

_And she's a loud snorer, _Jax thought as he rolled his eyes back into focus, blinking back the fog blurring the world around him the best he could.

--

**Several Hours Later…**

At long last, Jax was starting to reach the end of his rope when the first hour had passed. Lasting through the second was utter torture when Violet's snoring failed to keep him up. But finally, during the third, he had fallen off of his rock perch and lay sprawled out on the ground, chest moving up and down rhythmically with barely any noise coming from his mouth.

He remained asleep, until he heard the sound of fabric shuffling. Eyes snapping open, he sat up and glanced around, until he noticed the vibrations rattling the pouch of the Pikachu's PokeBall. This time, Jax was unable to keep his jaw from dropping as it snapped open on its own accord, light arcing through the air and slowly forming the body of the Pikachu, the red color draining as the painted Pokemon blinked and looked around her surroundings, looking neither sadistic nor dangerous, her expression unreadable.

Jax narrowed his eyes as he carefully watched her from afar, remaining as still as possible under the pretense of still being asleep. So long as she was unaware of his movements as he scrutinized her, if she tried anything funny he could easily pounce her and take her down. He'd fought her before, and he was almost completely confident that he could find her weakness this time.

That was, if there was a 'this time'. Her expression no longer looked unreadable as she looked down at herself, but shocked instead. Jax raised an eyebrow at this—here he was expecting for her to immediately assault the nearest person who was nearby. What startled him the most was when, after brushing her fingers over her berry-markings (which had been smeared after the fight with Jax, he remembered) and returning the fingers with a stare at the purple coating the brick-colored, subtle hue that covered her body, was the absolutely shocked way she experimented with her body.

"Oh my God," she said aloud, then whirled around to determine her surroundings. The moment she saw Violet she nearly cursed again as she turned back around, clasping her hands over her mouth. The Pikachu turned her head around once again peeking at Violet, an incredulous look on her face as she stared at the loudly snoring girl.

Jax's other eyebrow escalated to the top of his head as well. _What the hell is she doing? _He thought, carefully opening one eye by an inch. Even then, she hadn't made a single violent movement, and only looked as shocked as she was before. Once more, she turned around and looked at Violet without even noticing Jax, her shoulders sagging and ears drooping, depressed.

"Jesus Christ, girl," the Pikachu muttered quietly, her ears falling yet another inch, to the point they were fully pressed to her surprisingly muscular shoulder blades. "Jesus Christ..."

Without any change in her expression she held up her PokeBall and pressed the button, the spherical contraption opening with a snap as the two halves popped apart, disappearing in the beam of red light that pulled her back into the ball.

And all Jax could do was stare at the PokeBall as it rolled a few centimeters through the grass.

_What… the HELL… was THAT? _Was the only thing that he could possibly think at the moment.

--**Morning—**

Green and blue eyes fluttered open with a yawn, her head tilting to the side to evade the sunbeams glowing down from every direction onto her face. "Just five more minutes," Violet groaned, rolling onto her stomach and pressing her head against the buffed, rolled-up side of the blanket she used as a pillow, her slight snores muffled by the comforter.

"No, you're gonna wake up NOW," a feminine voice spoke in the smothering darkness of her closed eyes.

The girl instantly shot up to her knees, glancing to and fro startlingly, her eyes wide. "What was that? Who's talking?" question after question was fired out until Violet's energy faded, and her shoulders lowered as she whispered out, "…Are you a ghost? FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, LEAVE ME ALO—"

"Oh SHUT UP," the voice hissed, and Violet's eyes opened once again, wearily looking at the short, multi-colored figure before her as the exhaustion-induced blur dissolved from her eyes.

Violet slowly turned her head down from the perked, scarred ears and the rainbow-streaked, spiky strands of headfur until her eyes finally met the single, hazel eye that wasn't concealed by her greasy hair. "AAH!" Violet gasped, leaping back (and unceremoniously landing on her rear, forcing her to kick herself back with frantic movements of her legs), holding her arms defensively in a cross over her face. "DON'T KILL ME! I HAVE SO MUCH TO LIVE FOR! LIKE I HAVEN'T STARTED MY LIFELONG DREAM AS A PROFESSIONAL WAILORD RIDER, OR TO CONQUER THE KANTO AND RULE IT AS AN IRON-FISTED, MERCILESS RULER, OR--"

The Pikachu sighed and slapped her palm against Violet's mouth, muffling the rest of her pleading. "I'm NOT gonna kill you," she affirmed, shaking her head so fast that her ears flopped and her bangs swung from side to side of her face.

"You're not?" Violet repeated, shocked, until her eyes narrowed venomously at the Pikachu, lifting a finger to jab right at her chest. "Oh no. You can't fool me with that. DESPITE POPULAR BELIEF, I'm SMARTER THAN I ACTUALLY—" she stopped mid-sentence as she realized that she unintentionally insulted herself. "…Wait…"

Acting before she could continue her tirade, the Pikachu blurted out, her eyes wide beneath her bangs. Instead of what Violet expected as murderous intent, there was an almost serious, beseeching look in her overshadowed eyes, as she stared up in Violet's heterochromatic pupils. She clamped her mouth shut and coughed into her hand, carefully listening.

"I just want to talk. That's all," the Pikachu explained. "I'm not lookin' for trouble."

Violet sighed and seated herself on another, moss-covered rock. "You'd better not be," she said almost threateningly, then, after a second of seething, continued, "What do you want?"

The Pikachu's ears wilted altogether as she claimed her own place on a severed tree trunk, folding her legs. She no longer looked stoic, but rather almost sheepish or embarrassed, finding it hard to meet Violet's gaze for all but a few minutes before she forced her head to look up and her ears leveled to a medium angle, her multi-colored bangs scattering in front of her eyes.

"I wanted t'ask ya if you were the person who healed me," she was able to articulate, trying her best to decipher the surprised expression that flashed Violet's face.

"The one and only," Violet said, thumping her fist proudly against her chest before her face lapsed back into a glowering stare, most likely after remembering the events from yesterday. "Even though you beat the crap out of my Charmander."

At the memory of Jax's battered body, Violet winced and nearly withdrew, questioning her wisdom in keeping the Pikachu along after what she did. But some part of her, buried beneath the resentment, still retained its strength through its suffocation. It was honestly interested in bringing the Pikachu along with her, and no matter how hard she tried to ignore it and crush it into just fragments, it drilled its way out and shouted at her.

It was probably the only thing that kept Violet from just forgetting what she told Jax yesterday about a strong Pokemon altogether and telling the Pikachu to leave. Instead, she just focused on the guilty look on the Pikachu's face, which seemed to be sinking deeper and deeper into the emotional quagmire she was trapped in.

"Yeah, about that," she said numbly, "I…" Again, she couldn't bring herself to look at Violet, who could only raise an eyebrow at her nervousness until she finally sighed and said, "I'm sorry."

There was a five-minute moment of silence wherein Violet had almost fallen off of her unofficial rock throne.

It was broken by Violet raising her eyebrows and repeating in a stunned, aporetic tone, "…You're SORRY?" She tilted her head. "Oh… well… jeez," she rubbed behind her neck, mauling her already abused lip, "…Why're you telling me this, exactly?"

That was, if she had any ulterior motives. The Pikachu's ears laid back again, and she explained with as much fervor as she could manage. "I want to make this up for you," she said to an alarmed Violet, "Ya saved me even though I tried to kill ya both…"

Much to Violet's shock, the Pikachu's eyes were watering and brimming with tears, something that Violet was never comfortable with around just about everybody, and wasn't prepared to handle with now as the Pikachu started openly bawling. Clenching her teeth and holding up her hands, she thought it was because she had somehow reached a tangent that was painful for the Pikachu, until she learned that it was because, much to her shock, was completely touched.

Wiping away some tears from her now completely smeared and drizzling purple and orange markings with the back of her hand, she sniffled, "Nobody's EVER done that for me! Especially not a _HUMAN_!"

Violet stopped dead in the middle of trying to scoot herself off of her rock to just listen, and absorb the best she could. Her words smacking her face like a verbal bullet, she blinked and stared at her blankly. Still completely startled, Violet uttered a low, 'uhhh' as she searched for the right thing to say to the humbled Pikachu. She finally settled on, "You're welcome?" Which sounded more hesitant than sincere.

The Pikachu, however, took it for a realistic response and continued sniffing, ignoring the wet stains of different colors on the back of her hand's tousled fur. "Nononono," she rambled, waving her paws, "It's not welcome. No. Not until I can set things straight here!" The Pikachu's determined tone somehow managed to pluck Violet out of her state of petrified confusion into one of even more, livid confusion, the girl staring confusedly at her.

The Pikachu quickly clarified, "I ain't goin' anywhere until I return the favor, chief," she said, leaping up onto the rock and poking at Violet's freckled cheek, the girl squirming slightly. "I ain't goin' NOWHERE until I pay ya back."

With that and a nod, as though approving to herself of her resolution, she gave a wide, full-toothed grin of yellow-rooted ivory. "Come on, please bring me along?" she asked with a whimper, "I'm realllll good at fighting, y'see, so I can be, like…" she snapped her fingers as she searched for a suitable title, but when one floated into her head her entire expression brightened even more enthusiastically. "I can be like your bodyguard!"

She leapt off of the rock and landed on her feet, giving a flashy spin just to dramatize it. As she whirled around, she stopped to a skidding halt with just the slam of her foot's toes against the ground, still facing Violet. The Pikachu clasped her hands in front of her pleadingly, eyes widening and sparkling with almost babyish cuteness as she repeated, "Pleaaaaaaase?"

Violet mutely stared at the Pikachu from her rock, looking twice as disturbed from before at that moment. A more megalomaniacal side of herself was pleased of the idea of her own bodyguard and an excellent addition to her burgeoning team, but the other part of her still slightly distrusting of the Pikachu remained adamantly opposed to her introduction into the group. This same megalomaniacal side also encouraged her erupting into an evil laugh at any given moment, which actually did sound appealing. Decisions, decisions, and as the Pikachu's eyes widened by another faction, she hurried her thinking until the answer came swinging around and thwacking her right in the face.

--**Five Minutes Later—**

"You did WHAT?"

The sound of Jax's voice resonated around the field, startling birds from their nests and making Violet, who had taken the brunt of it all, shake for a good ten minutes before she started rubbing around the insides of her ears with her pinky.

"I told ya, I decided to keep the Pikachu as part of the team!" she exclaimed, gesturing to the rodent in question, who happily grinned and flashed the peace sign with two, stubby yellow fingers at Violet's side.

Jax hadn't witnessed anything during the previous meeting between Violet and the Pikachu, having fallen into a deep sleep near the blankets after he had dozed off, his sleeping period becoming elongated from how late he had forced himself to stay awake. Even then the signs of fatigue had reared their ugly head on him, but Violet wasn't sure if the crankiness was just part of his personality, or from getting an unsubstantial amount of sleep. Needless to say, after he woke up to see the Pikachu he loathed and the Trainer he loathed even more starting to forge a partnership, he was in need of an explanation.

And he was not happy with Violet's decision in the slightest bit.

"How could you DO THAT?" Jax shouted toward Violet, snarling through his teeth, "After all the crap she's done to us, even!"

Violet bit her lip and tried to come up with something right on the spot that would pull her out of Jax's line of fire, but, instead, had to rely on pretending he was in his underwear in order to keep herself from being intimidated. Just, too bad that tactic made her burst into a fit of uncontrollable snickers. And too bad Jax didn't wear any underwear. In the end, she decided to just say the truth. "Jax, she KNOWS what she did was wrong and she wants to make it up to us. I know you're pissed at her, but this could really work out!" she tried.

Jax almost made his voice leap several octaves out of indignation. "HOW could this work out, exactly?" he demanded with the slightest twinge of sarcasm in his voice, "WHAT is she going to do that would make me oh so magically forget the fact she almost KILLED US?"

The Pikachu raised her paw almost like a schoolchild would in the middle of a class before being called on, then, as the attention was shifted to her, she said pleasantly, "I can outrun most larger Pokemon so I can go to other towns really quickly, not to mention…" she gave a devious smile, "I'm really darn good at stealin' ice cream from vendors."

Both Jax and Violet exchanged stares—the former looking no less angry than he was before, albeit with confusion, and the later looking as interested as someone could be from her proposition. "So there ya have it," Violet said, patting the smugly smiling Pikachu on the shoulder (and nearly getting a splotch of green berry juice on her hand for her troubles) and letting a grin of her own pass over her face, "In the name of ice cream, she's coming with us."

And with a cry of "onward!" Violet marched down the path to Pewter, the backpack's many trinkets jingling at the slightest gyration of her bones, leaving behind a befuddled Jax, and a Pikachu whose face had masked itself into that of stone.

Jax sighed in defeat, grasping his head in a vague attempt to shake the headache that had just formed in his head like a cancerous, roiling stormcloud, and could only mutter, "Sooner or later Violet, I'm going to end up squishing your face with a pillow in your sleep," he mumbled quietly, then shook his head and started to go after her before he was interrupted with a grimy paw resting on his shoulder and pulling him firmly back.

Jax let out a yelp as he was yanked around, his body maneuvered until he was standing in front of the Pikachu, both their faces meeting. One was set in a snarl, the other was fixated into a stoic mask, and the electricity that crackled between their eyes, linking them among the tension, was a testament to what they thought and knew about each other, and how much they were holding back.

It was Jax who broke the glare contest between the two with another shake of his head, and sighed, "Don't tell me this some kinda charade to blow both me and Violet sky high…" he muttered, sounding more affronted than worried.

The Pikachu shook her head, brushing some of her bangs out of her face so she could get a good look at Jax, and so he could fully see the melancholy look on her painted, smeared face. No matter what she did to try and push her large, spiky bangs away, they just seemed to droop in an oddly aerodynamic moptop, like they were illustrating her mood. Either way, they irritated the Pikachu more than helped accentuate her.

Giving one last bat to a strand of purple-highlighted hair before it bobbed back into place, she returned to looking back at Jax, who was watching her spectacle with a vaguely amused look on his scaly maw.

The Pikachu started, "Hell no," she said to Jax's theory, putting her hands on her hips with an almost punctuating bump that made her tail quiver like a stiff lightning rod, "If I wanted that I woulda done it a long time ago."

Jax narrowed his eyes as the mental image of the Pikachu electric-shocking both him and Violet until they were just charred, flaking messes, rotting away in some pocket in the forest to never be disturbed by wandering adventurers, and only to be picked away at by hordes of meandering carnivores…

Jax nearly smacked himself on the forehead to both scold him for thinking such an atrocity, and to knock it out of his head and into the abyss where it belonged. Apparently the Pikachu somehow had known what he was thinking, or at least knew by some intuition that he wasn't thinking something pleasant. Frowning, she lightly tapped her knuckles against Jax's chest, bolting him out of his reverie.

"No," she said curtly, and then her face took on an expression completely similar to the one she had used for Violet as she felt her heart sink and wallow in shame. "Besides, I want you to forgive me too, especially when you've had the worst from me."

In response, Jax was left completely silent, but still analyzed the Pokemon behind his startled expression. She didn't seem to be very deceitful, but he hadn't known her for a while—Hell, the longest he had known her was when she was trying to zap away at him as she terrorized Violet and Jax through their trip in Viridian Forest. Maybe there was a possibility that there was more to that?

Time would tell. But Jax had one thing in mind in the future: if she were to revert back to the insanity-driven Pokemon that he had confronted and nearly died to, he would have no qualms in drenching her with fire again.

Either way, Jax was going to keep an eye out on her, and slowly began to wish that things would turn out for the better.

When the Pikachu spotted the change in his anger to thoughtfulness, she patted him on the shoulder as she strode past him, tail swishing stiffly in the air with every loping step. Jax watched her as she departed, ever more apprehensive of her, almost expecting for her to blast a tree down with a well-aimed Thunder Shock or start running about on a rampage. His mind kept coming up with mental image after mental image, flicking through his head like a morbid slideshow, until he was again interrupted by the Pikachu.

"Hey!"

Jax glanced up, somewhat rattled after his tread through the possibilities that her presence presented. Unknown to him, his face had gone pale, and as the Pikachu bounded down the steps, she zipped over to him in a yellow blur, her face up against his. "Whazza matter?" she inquired, smirking evilly, "Feelin' scared already?"

At this remark Jax hastily jolted himself out of the claws of his idle thinking and snarled. "Hardly, Pikachu. Don't you have certain blue-haired girls to bother?" he responded harshly.

The Pikachu only laughed, her arms folded in front of her furry chest. "Oh, gotta love ya," she said sarcastically with a roll of her hazel eyes, "And that sense o' humor of yours, too."

To Jax's great relief she simply turned away as the apprehensiveness once more crackled between them like razor-sharp strands of static. Sighing and drawing his hand down his face, he muttered a choice curse word under his breath and started his trek forward, remaining behind the speedy Pikachu at all costs. He relished all of two minutes spent without her annoying him, when suddenly, she hurtled around on her heels and dashed right in front of him, stopping barely a few centimeters from Jax, who had stopped himself instinctually at her approach.

"By the way," she hummed in a sing-song, "My name is Rikki. Figured you oughta know this, 'cos I'm tired of being referred to as a freakin' dog."

She turned her back on him for the last time, and, twisting her upper body around, she casually waved to Jax, and with a hearty "Toodles", she sprinted back up the platforms, purposefully showing off with more spectacular flips and well-timed bursts of speed, as she left Jax behind in the dust.

_Oh yes, _Jax thought as he could only stare at the retreating form in retaliation, leaves and blades of grass drifting to the ground among the clouds of dust still floating away in the air around him, _I can't stand her._

**Chapter VI Completed…**

**Author's Note: **Sorry if this chapter ended up being boring, but I decided to put something with character development in this. I don't think I would have had enough time for Rikki to forge a partnership with Jax and Violet before they arrive in Pewter.

By the way, one of my current art projects lately has been working on profile pictures for each of the characters, which will be included with special information about the characters, and have full-colored images for you to look at as well. They'll be hosted at my Deviant Art account, where I currently have the black and white version of Violet's picture up, but I warn you, it probably will be a while before I complete them.

**Trivia: **Rikki's face paint is actually kind of a tribute to Tira, who has purple warpaint stripes on her body. The difference is though, that Rikki scribbles all manner of unusual markings and colors, not just purple stripes. Also, Rikki uses berries to make the paint she uses for her markings.


	7. We Will Rock You

**Disclaimer: **Blah blah blah, I don't own Pokemon, only the characters, which you'd be absolutely flippin' mental if you even THOUGHT about stealing such whackjobs, and I don't own Rory, either. That privilege goes to my boyfriend, Alan G. Zendra (READ his stuff. Be awestruck. I dare you.) And oh, but I DO own a Tira (SCIII) action figure. Glee.

**And Now For the Reviews: **Holy crap, it was like there was a review influx! You all have been so nice--I extend my heart and thanks to Equestrian-Lily (I'm sorry about your illness, but I'm really happy it's making you feel better! Also, I'm glad you like my characters, too! ), Bigfoot12310 (who has reviewed several times, thank you greatly!), and ObsidianSpires (once again, more kind words from a new reviewer to my story)--your reviews have made me smile time and time again.

Overall... I thank all of you.

**Chapter VII: **We Will Rock You  
--  
"If A is success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut." **Albert Einstein**** (1879 - 1955)**

"Wow."

"Oh my God."

"We're actually HERE."

All three of them stood, as stiff as petrified trees, their eyes as they gazed at the sight before them, the menagerie of oddly-colored eyes hardly closing in a blink. Girl, Pikachu, and Charmander's jaws hung in suspension, with the occasional twitch of an eye or a pinch on the flesh to remind them it wasn't a dream.

Turning rigidly around, still stealing glimpses of what they were so focused on as she tried to keep her eyes from moving back and forth every few seconds, Violet struggled to remain centered, which seemed nigh impossible. After finally punching her body into gear, she carefully looked at the sign before her, a wide grin blossoming across her face.

In bold, black letters, it read: _Welcome to Pewter City._

Violet turned away from the sign, the Pokemon behind her reading her expression loud and clear as they simultaneously turned their gazes back to the city looming in front of them. His own face contorting into a Cheshire's grin, Jax blithely announced, "We're really here," slight disbelief swam in his voice and face, giving Violet, who was ignoring him, a purposefully dirty look.

This was, of course, that Violet had led the group through pitfall after dangerous pitfall of vicious Beedrills, falling trees, and countless other obstacles, when it was much easier to have Rikki drag her through the supposedly fastest course if she got over the fear of the rather gnarled trees and an almost cliched, dark-enveloped setting and atmosphere.

Needless to say, when they found out the prettiest road was the worst one, despite its unassuming appearance, they had nearly killed Violet.

Before Pewter City, finally, was when Violet dropped to her knees and started kowtowing to every religious term for the word 'God' that she could think of.

--

Pewter City was much larger than Pallet Town and the recently passed Viridian City, which they had used to stock on supplies, but it was also at the same time moderately modest, with almost perfectly symmetrical, vaguely cubical buildings, healthy wildlife, and pristine green grass. As they wandered the city, looking around the sights, Violet's vision once passed one of two of the largest buildings in the house, which was what appeared to be a grand museum (which was confirmed by the sign nearby)—with tall windows and a dome-shaped, amber-hued glass dome roof.

"I can't believe we actually made it," Violet said, still shellshocked, and still excitedly jumping on her heels mirthfully.

Rikki stared over near the plaza, which the cobblestone paths led to, that looked like an enormous mosaic arranged with mixtures of monochromes and brighter shades of sharded shapes. This was where she spotted the Pokemon Center—a large building with a traditionally red roof—and the Mart, with a respectively blue roof, as well as a few miscellaneous buildings and pleasant-looking neighborhoods. There was something that all three wanted, however, and the enormous building with another, dome-shaped roof much like the Museum towering high above a row of fences that partially separated it from the rest of the town was what they were looking for.

Violet stared up at the dark grey PokeBall painted over the double-door--another thing made from copper-colored glass—and carefully traced the text beneath it with her eyes from the stone building. _Gym. _This was the place.

Violet took a deep breath, then pumped her arms, swiveling them around in their sockets and shuffling nervously. Jax watched the girl incredulously, Rikki raising a purple-streaked eyebrow. "What the hell are you doing?" Jax finally asked as Violet started to lean on one of her spread legs almost analytically.

The girl raised her arms over her head, listening with sick satisfaction to the popping that crackled in her knuckles as she linked her fingers and spread them out before her. "I'm…" she stopped for a moment, scratching at her head as she searched for an appropriate word. Five seconds later, a lightbulb went off in her head like an inspirational phantom, and she snapped her fingers. "I'm PRACTICING! Yeah…" she numbly muttered, like she were trying to convince herself about its undeniable (not really) brilliance. "Practicing."

Jax rolled his eyes and folded his arms. "You know, WE'RE the ones who are supposed to do the fighting, he said, jerking his thumb back toward Rikki. "Last time I checked, you couldn't use Ember."

Rikki's lips twitched into a mischievous smile as she watched Violet awkwardly begin to search for another excuse, her painted markings curving with her cheeks. "You nervous?" she questioned, playfully poking the girl on her chubby belly.

Rubbing the nape of her neck, Violet's expression changed into that of an offended, outraged glare that seemed too exaggerated to be serious. Chances were that it wasn't. "NO," she insisted, pointing toward the paint-adorned Pikachu with a rounded, squat finger.

Her miniature team of Pokemon merely returned that with a collective, unimpressed frown. Violet spent ten seconds still trapped in her rather poor attempt at feigning confidence before she at last sighed and her shoulders slumped in their sockets, head sagging, but one hand keeping her hat from falling off.

"…Yeah," she finally admitted with a sigh.

Jax waved his claw, rubbing at the bridge of his muzzle gently enough to keep himself from poking anything painful with his nails. "Listen, relax. It's not like we're going to end up being KILLED," he said, but trailed off as Violet's body froze and her eyes widened in horror.

Cursing his choice of words, Jax smacked his forehead with his palm, drawing it down his face as he repeated a low, muttering curse. "I MEAN," Jax tried again as Violet frantically started to edge away from the gym, her obnoxiously pink sandals scuffing against the bumpy cobblestone, "Even if we DO lose, we can always try again. There's nothing in the rules that says we can't."

Violet, by this point, had almost made it ten feet away from the gym, which she was warily eyeing with a narrow glare. Sighing, Rikki decided to take over when Jax had finally just threw his hands up in the air and pushed open the doors, walking in with a, "I'll be waiting inside if you manage to pry her away from the fence," he said, pointing to Violet, who was stubbornly clinging to a pole that made up the fence surrounding the gym, her eyes scampering from corner to corner of her eyes like she was expecting for something to just fall from the sky and crush her.

Rikki rolled her eyes, "Oh, wonderful," she sighed huskily, striding over to Violet and tugging the resisting, squirming girl away from her fence as she finally loosened her grip unintentionally, "For the love of God, boss, it's not like we're going to be pelted with stones…"

And as she muttered ineffective encouragements that quickly grew exhausted, she dragged Violet all the way through the door Jax held open and into the gym.

--

The interior of the gym was surprisingly boring, the walls made up of the same cobblestone as the roads throughout Pewter, and the room itself in a vaguely rectangular shape. Before them, dominating most of the wall, was a glass window, wide and clean enough for Violet to get a good enough look through past the slightest contours of her reflection. There were several other doors closed off at other corners of the room, the tallest, however, being the one beside the window. Violet took a deep breath as she examined the room carefully, as though she expected a torture room to await her inside.

"Wow," Violet said, wiping her forehead with a relieved sigh, "This might not be so bad after all…"

Rikki set her hands on her hips and looked around, ears quirking to and fro as they struggled to catch a sound. Finally, a focused expression came upon her face as they tilted toward a distant sound coming from one of the doors. Before she could open her mouth to warn her teammates, the footsteps became ever louder, the doorknob turning with a resounding creak the moment the pattering of feet stopped.

The door opened, revealing a tall man most likely in his early twenties, and quite healthy in appearance, sporting an athletic physique and olive-colored, clear skin. His eyes were narrow, but barely enough in width to show the almost beetle black eyes twinkling genially as he smiled beneath a few askew bangs of dark brown, spiky hair. "Ah, another contestant," he said pleasantly, looking across the small team standing beside Violet.

After analyzing the unassuming team, he gave a nod, and started an introduction. "Welcome to the Pewter City Gym," he said, extending his hand to Violet, "My name's Brock, the Gym Leader."

Violet stared down at the hand hovering before her with a relieved look on her rotund face. _He doesn't look scary at all, _she thought, managing to suppress a continent sigh as she took hold of his hand, shaking it with an affable smile. "I'm Violet," she said cheerfully, then quickly repeated her introduction with her surname. "Violet Amaranth."

Brock nodded. "It's always good to see new trainers arrive," he said, then turned his head toward Jax and Rikki, who were waiting with folded arms and stifled sneezes, disguised as coughs. "And who are these?"

Jax answered that question before Violet could open his mouth, holding up his clawed hand. "The name's Jax," he said with shocking amiability that nearly left Violet speechless.

Standing beside him, Rikki held up her own hand, decorated with a black spiral descending down from her middle, stubby finger and along her forearm, and gave a playful salute to the Gym Leader. "And I'm Rikki," she said cordially.

Brock smiled, crossing his arms before his orange vest. "Nice to meet all of you," he greeted, then, suddenly, his look took on a serious edge as he glanced back to Violet. "Now, Violet…"

Violet gulped, staring up at the man and into his sable hued eyes. "Are you ready to try to earn your first badge?" he asked the girl, noticing the nervousness in her expression.

The two Pokemon standing beside Violet all turned to the blue-haired girl as she scraped some errant, spiky bangs out of her unusually-colored eyes. She gulped once again, shifting her feet every few seconds as restlessness overcame her, not answering Brock's question for a good few minutes before she finally looked up, peering through her beryl bangs.

"Yeah," she said, trying to swallow down her nervousness, which crawled through her throat like a grimy spider, curling around her vocal cords in a disgustingly fluid embrace. She managed to force out the rest of the words as she folded her arms behind her back, "I think so."

Brock gave an encouraging smile, walking over to the door beside the glass window. "Don't worry," he reassured her, pushing open the door so the girl and her Pokemon could trudge ahead, "Just relax. Try your hardest."

As Brock walked in, letting the door swing back behind him, Violet, Jax, and Rikki stared in awe around the enormous room. Jagged rocks protruded from the ground within a white, square outline marking the room like a border, the same white used to draw out a large PokeBall in the center of it. On both sides of the arena, tall platforms elevated on a row of ascending stairs were placed, what appeared to be keyboards attached to the squat fence surrounding the rim of the platform. Violet stared in awe around the arena as she staggered her way to an unclaimed platform as Brock strode up the steps to the arena far across to the platform, grasping the sides of the button-covered mechanism. Jax followed Violet up along with Rikki, the two Pokemon flanking the girl and staring after him, the Charmander as determined as he could possibly be in appearance, and the Pikachu's mouth forming a confident smirk.

Brock reached for his belt, where two PokeBalls dangled within the clasps keeping them attached. He plucked a PokeBall from one of the claw-like machines, the mechanism releasing the ball into the palm of his hand. Holding it aloft, he edged his thumb to the button in the center with a grin on his face.

"Ready, Violet?" he asked the girl, his voice echoing across the coliseum.

All Violet could do was stare at his PokeBall and hope that nothing incredibly powerful or enormous was contained within. Swallowing back down the swirling gunk of goo down her esophagus, she bit her lip and clenched her fists around the rim of the metal fence. "…Yeah," she said, her voice barely loud enough to hear.

Brock pressed the button on the PokeBall and flung it across the arena at that word, the ball spiraling through the air as it quickly froze in mid-air and snapped open, red light spilling out as it shaped itself into a slightly rounded, legless form as the light faded away and the ball retracted back into Brock's hand as he returned it to its clasp. "Go…" he began, Violet's stomach twisting in a knot as tension rose in her.

"GEODUDE!"

And then the light had completely drained, revealing a rocky, roughly spherical Pokemon with only a pair of arms as its limbs. The odd-looking Pokemon narrowed its eyes as it hovered off of the ground, clenching its fists and smashing them together over its head with a loud cry and the crash of rocks grinding together.

At first Violet wasn't very sure about the Pokemon, since he hardly seemed as intimidating as she once thought he was going to be. A floating rock with big arms wasn't exactly a terrifying creature. Releasing the air that she was keeping bloating in her second, Brock, however, caught that sigh.

"Don't be so sure," he chided, "My Geodude is stronger than he looks."

Violet wasn't sure if she were to really believe that whenever she took even the barest of glances at the rock Pokemon. Hell, she was finding it difficult to keep herself from snickering up until she felt the slightest nudge against her leg. Her eyes shifted downward, meeting the gaze of Jax, whose face was the most serious she had seen all day.

"Don't underestimate him," he warned her, "You have to be careful. None of the Pokemon you have have an advantage against Rock Pokemon."

At that moment, whatever that would have become a laugh started choking in her throat as the truth caught up to her. _Holy hell, he's RIGHT, _Violet realized, biting her lip. _Crap! What am I gonna do?_

All she could do, she realized, was try her best and make the most of it with the abilities she could use, and possibly avoid attacks.

_Avoid… _she repeated mentally, rubbing her forehead thoughtfully from beneath her hair and hat until she felt another lightbulb flash in her mind with a loud _click, _bathing her mind in revelation. A devious smile spread across her lips as she murmured under her breath, "Eureka."

She turned to Rikki, who was peering through the bars of the fence so to get a good glance at the Pokemon, and nudged her gently with her finger against her shoulder. Startled by the sudden touch, she nearly leapt out of her fur as she turned around, meeting Violet's gaze as the girl crouched down to meet the Pikachu's height.

"You're up to bat, Rikki," she said, pointing to the arena.

The Pikachu's eyes widened like she thought she was completely crazy, her mouth opening and starting to shape into the beginning of a protest (most likely, "are you $#ing insane?" or "what the frigging hell?"), but her mouth shut tight as she remembered her promise to follow every one of Violet's orders without any complaint. Sighing and biting down her words, she leapt up onto the rim of the fence and crouched down, glaring at her opponent.

Just before she leapt down, she hissed under her breath, "If I die, you're not coming to my funeral," and the, after that remark, she jumped off and spun around, rolling in mid-air as she quickly descended, but suddenly froze just a few feet off the ground and rotated her body one last time, her feet pressing against the ground in a cloud of dust.

The Geodude gave her an incredulous look, cracking his knuckles. "Well, lookee what we have here," he said mockingly, raising an eyebrow and laughing bitterly, "A Pikachu, of all things? Someone has a death wish."

Rikki slowly rose to her feet, sweeping some of the dirt off of her thighs, cleverly avoiding the paint so she wouldn't smear it. "Oh shaddup," she said, narrowing her eyes at the Geodude in return with a chattering growl and a few flying sparks from her painted cheeks, "You're just lucky you can't get shocked, otherwise I'd blow your ass to smithereens." Just for emphasis, she gestured up into the air with her thumb, circling it.

The Geodude suddenly dropped to his hands, supporting his body with his thick, stony arms as he lifted his body up. "That would be the day Hell freezes over, you snappy little trash."

"Knock it off, Geodude!" Brock snapped from his platform, then spread his arm out, shouting his first command, "TACKLE ATTACK!"

And with that, the Geodude shoved his arms beneath him and propelled himself forward, moving with surprising speed as he lumbered across the ground and toward Rikki, where, when he was close enough to her, he leapt at her once more and sent himself flying at her like a cannonball.

Rikki's eyes widened at the incoming Geodude, and with a loud curse, she bounded out of the way, twisting behind her and landing on her paws. She bent her body around as she backflipped back until she was well past the Geodude, who slammed his hands against the ground, skidding to a stop his Tackle attack. As he pushed himself to a halt, sending tiny stones and clouds of ground pebbles sprinkling around his palms, Rikki smirked at him and stuck out her tongue, holding out her hand and raising her middle finger.

The Geodude's eyes widened once again as she flipped him the bird, then, as rage started to engulf the shock, Brock shouted, "Rock Throw, Geodude!"

Geodude's face split into a smile as he struggled to keep him from laughing. "Just what I was waiting for…"

His eyes narrowed and he grabbed two of the rocks laying around in the arena—one in each hand-- lifting it with barely any effort or trembling from his hand as the dust crumbled beneath it. Spinning around, he rapidly flung the first rock at Rikki, transforming the rock into a speeding bullet of stone. The Pikachu's eyes widened as the rock was easily sent flying toward her, her body stiffening as it quickly passed the distance between the Geodude and herself. It was all she could do as she stared, stunned, and tried to move her trembling legs.

She wasn't the only one who was stunned. Violet's eyes enlarged to the point they became enormous, off-colored discs, her paling hands squeezing and wringing the fence until her palms ached and the blood fled from her whitened digits. Beside her, Jax yelped and winced, lifting his claws almost protectively, like he expected for the rock to just turn around and hit the platform instead. Frantically thinking, yet another idea popped in Violet's head, and, slamming her fists against the top of the fence's rim, she shouted, "RIKKI!"

The Pikachu froze up again, the rock mere inches away. Not wasting any time, Violet called out again in a shockingly firm order, "QUICK ATTACK YOUR WAY OUT OF IT!"

And Rikki happily obliged as she shoved her feet back on reality, immediately pumping her legs beneath her as she launched her way out of the rock. She spun in the air and leapt off of the platform's base, bouncing off, just as the thoroughly frustrated Geodude tossed the other rock at her.

"Keep Quick Attacking!" Violet commanded, Rikki darting past the following projectile easily with a flip over an incoming rock.

"Piece o' cake!" Rikki laughed, nodding so firmly to Violet that her ears bobbed about her spiked headfur. Across from the arena, the infuriated Geodude snarled and slammed his fists on the ground in an almost primitive display of his hatred of the cocky Pikachu. In response, Rikki laughed again, setting her paws on her hips, which jerked almost lecherously, and stretched down her lower eyelid with the delicately painted fingertip of her paw, sticking out her tongue.

The Geodude's eyes broadened at this lewd act, especially when she whirled around and slapped the earth with her lightning bolt-shaped tail, sparking up a quick bolt of lightning. "C'mon, c'mon," she urged, cackling at the aghast Geodude as she spun around to face him, once more thrusting her middle finger before him, an almost insanely maniacal look on her heavily painted face, "FIGHT me, you ugly-ass, rocky--ACK!"

And with a yelp, Rikki leapt out of the way of an angrily-thrown boulder, dodging the rain of the shattered rock with a few nudges to the side. Narrowing her eyes and laughing almost madly, she backflipped once again, quickly ascending to her feet with another flip that landed her upright.

"Yeah, that's right!" she taunted him, cracking her knuckles, "THAT'S how ya do it! You're not so stupid after a--"

With a growl of frustration another rock was hurled at her, just as she cartwheeled out of the way, her cheeks sparking furiously as her once mocking expression was illuminated by the gnarled tongues of bright blue lightning, and the multiple colors darkened among her face. "Okay, that is the LAST damn time you interrupt me, you bastard! I know YOU have problems, but listen, fugly, I don't give a sh--"

And yet another one came at her, but this one managed to smash right against her, sending her flying across the arena with a pained shriek. Up on her platform, Violet's jaw dropped as he Pikachu's body did, just as the absolutely enraged Geodude uplifted two more rocks, one in each hand carried with barely any effort as Rikki twitched nearby the rock that had plowed into her.

"Time for you to say good-bye, bitch," he snapped, preparing to heft the rocks as he locked on, and tossed them toward the unconscious Pikachu's form with two, powerful swings.

All Violet could do was bite nervously into her knuckles, her pupils shrinking, while Jax glared out at the field, peering over the fence with bloodlust on his mind.

Brock was ready to call back his Geodude, not about to let a Pokemon be seriously injured, as was Violet, when suddenly, the rocks were thrown and Rikki's eyes opened, a loud growl resonating in the back of her throat. "DAMN YOU!" she shouted at the Geodude, then, as she flipped back, she felt the pain rip through her ribcage, nearly crippling her movement as she let out another agonized cry. With one rock successfully dodged, she didn't have the energy to try it again.

So, she tried something different.

If she couldn't electrocute rock Pokemon...

The rock was just a few feet away from her when she crouched down, planting feet and forepaws before her. A loud, trilling shout erupted from her throat as lightning twisted around her, firing out toward the projectile like an electric lance. The electrified aura crackled and crunched around her, glowing brighter and brighter the more she pumped into it--it was just a Thundershock attack, and thus not very strong, but she was confident that if she had reached a specific power level--

With a grinding screech, the lightning completely penetrated the stone, tossing shards and sparks flying around the demolished, crumpled remains. Ears laid back, she started to beat her foot against the ground until it was a muddy burgundy blur, and she started to prepare herself for another attack.

That was, until Violet called out. "RIKKI!" she shouted, the Pikachu's ears lifting and tilting in her direction. "COME BACK HERE!" Violet waved her arms frantically, picking up the speed when she saw the Pikachu turn away from her with a swish of her stubby pony tail. "Are you absolutely CRAZY?"

Rikki grit her teeth and simply glared at her out of the corner of her eyes, clenching her fist. "If you think I'm gonna lose, you're absolutely outta your mind, boss," she said, splaying her clawed fingers to either side of her body, once again thrumming her foot against the ground for a moment. It was true that she absolutely promised Violet to follow every order, but some things she WOULD NOT put up with.

The pain from the rock managed to subside somewhat, but she wouldn't last in the battle too long. She had to end it quickly, no matter what. As Violet yelled out her name one last time, and Jax snapped something about her being utterly mad from where he poked his head through the bars of the fence, she remembered what Violet's strategy was.

She'd follow it.

The moment she stepped back in the fight, the rocks kept on coming as the Geodude swiveled around in a frantic attempt to meet her as she ran around in circles and leapt over the Geodude, her body springing into fast acrobatic moves as she ricocheted off of walls, cobblestones, bounding into the air and avoiding rocks as they swept beneath her and crashed into stony splinters as they pelted the ground and the walls.

"That the best ya got?" she taunted the Geodude, landing from a tall leap into a crouching position. Her expression was pained, however, and she was nearing unconsciousness, her legs becoming jellied and her position swaying nauseously.

The Geodude could only heave and gasp, his body wavering in the air. Standing to her feet, Rikki watched with sadistic satisfaction as the Geodude crashed to the ground, kicking up dirt and the remains of his rocky ammo simultaneous to as she tilted her thumb downward, and smirked. Up on the platform, Brock's eyes widened as he extended his PokeBall outward, pressing the button and quickly withdrawing the Geodude in a flash of red.

"Unbelievable," he said in shock, shaking his head. "Good work, Violet…"

Violet puffed out her chest in pride, thumping her fist against her breastplate. From on the arena, Rikki happily clasped her hands together and shook them in the air beside her, like she were celebrating her victory before an enormous crowd. "Thank you, thank you," she said, up until she released an exhausted breath and stumbled.

Brock stared down at the Pikachu and frowned. "…But I think your Pokemon's tired after all those stunts she pulled. And while your strategy from before was impressive, your handling on the Pikachu was nothing short of irresponsible."

Violet winced, guilt creeping into her mind. "Rikki, come on back," she said, the Pikachu swaggering back across the coliseum, rubbing at her eyes and raking her paw through her multi-colored hair.

"I think I need an aspirin," she said as she half-sat, half-collapsed herself down on one of the steps leading up to Violet's platform, trying to keep her head steady and trying to not focus on the whirling carousel of stars rotating around her head. Dropping her head into her hands and her ears drooping, Violet stared over her shoulder and grinned to the Pikachu.

"Ya did great, Rikki," she encouraged her, as the Pokemon started mumbling to herself about the stars crashing into her head like little ephemeral meteorites. She ruffled the hair of the Pokemon, much to both their irritation--Violet because when she withdrew, her hand was coated in paint, and Rikki because she hated being petted--"Rest all ya'd like."

Rikki slowly lifted her head and her dazed, glassy hazel pupils rolled to Violet's direction. "Thanks," she said wearily, then returned to trying to bat away the stars with a few swipes of her hand in the air, then tipped over and moaned huskily as they dove in and smacked her in the face, her legs shooting up in the air almost comically.

Violet yelped and drew out a Potion from her backpack, aiming the nozzle to her injury to her side. As she sprayed a few blasts, she looked over her shoulder at Jax, looking somewhat nervous. What Brock said had shaken her greatly, because he was absolutely RIGHT. She was starting to regret ever having come here.

"Think yer up to it?" she asked Jax, staring down at the Potion bottle as she rubbed the cyan foam into her injury--she had used an extra amount of Potion, so Rikki would likely awaken soon.

Jax smacked the side of his fist into the palm of his hand. "Oh, you bet I am," he said confidently, staring out onto the field through the corner of his green eyes, gesturing the Gym Leader with a coaxing gesture with two fingers. With a smirk on his face, he confidently said with a puff of his chest, "Bring it on."

Brock couldn't help but snicker at this. "I'll have to warn you, this Pokemon is far stronger than my last one," he said honestly, concern starting to chisel onto the angular features of his face.

Jax stretched his arms over his head experimentally, adding a roll of his shoulderblades for extra effect, then walked proudly down, shoulders stiff and tail whipping regally behind him with every step. "You have bigger things to worry about," he countered, as he stood in the center of the arena, his tail swishing behind him like a flaming whip.

From over near the platform, Violet started to wave her arms around, cupping her hands over her mouth and calling out, her voice echoing from her palms, "GOOOO Jax! Kick his ass!" The Charmander snickered under his breath, then slowly assumed a fighting pose, his claws poised threateningly over him as the fire on his tail raged, luminous in a bright orange.

Brock, still caught up in his highly concerned expression, could only grow increasingly worried as he held up the second Pokemon and flipped it once in his hand, pressing the button on it with his thumb right before he threw it. "Alright… GO!" Once more the ball spun toward the arena like a comet, red light spilling out from its opened interior.

But this time, a form much, much bigger than the Geodude started to emerge, a serpentine body stretching itself high in the air, perhaps over twenty feet or so. As the light faded, it revealed a body made entirely out of segmented stone, leading up to an almost carnivorous head topped with a long crest. It uncoiled its body around, the stones grinding against the ground, scattering stone and twisting its body along the dirt, leaving a deep divot as its eyes finally opened. Rising up as high as it could, it flung its head back, releasing a loud, booming cry from its rocky maw that made the foundations of the arena shake like an earthquake.

It was then that simultaneously, every jaw that once was held firm in Violet's team dropped like they had been unhinged.

"Oh. My. GOD," Jax exclaimed, lifting his head high back as the eyes of the massive creature moved down with a bend of its head, a threatening, vicious look in its eyes.

Violet shivered where she stood, unable to move her body enough to do more than just stare blankly, her jaw completely dropped, where she stood as a slightly more lucid Rikki joined her as she struggled to her arms. "Augh..." She pressed her hand to her aching head, hissing, "My fricking--" Finally, Rikki's eyes fell onto the enormous Onix towering nearly to the roof of the arena, her eyes widened, and her ears drooped instantly. With a bare squeak, she toppled down, completely knocked out. Violet stared down at the Pikachu concernedly, but the voice of Jax whispered to Violet through the corner of his mouth as she leaned against the rim, looking anxiously. "What should we do…?" he asked her.

"Don't worry," Violet reassured him with a wave of her hand, her voice drained of its hesitence, much to Jax's shock, "I have a perfect plan."

There was a moment of silence, broken by the heavy breathing of the vicious Onix, and as Violet clenched her hands down on the metal of the rim of the fence, making it vibrate as she screamed out, eyes bugging and the fearful tone returning to her voice, "RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!" Every word was emphasized by a booming echo that seemed impossible to be carried by such a small girl, but it above all accented one thing: DON'T DIE.

Jax wasted no time. Yelling out a panicked scream, Jax sped out of the way as the Onix let out another, earth-shaking roar and lunged, whipping his tail around just as Jax bounded out of the way, the stony frame of the tail crashing down on where Jax had been mere seconds ago. Nearly being bombarded by chunks of rock, Jax swatted a shower of dust out of his way as the hail of pebbles continued to buffet his back. With surprising speed, the at-first lumbering Onix twisted its body around, its upper half dropping in front of Jax, completely blocking him off.

"SHIT!" Jax shouted, stumbling back, repeating the word again and again like a dirty mantra as he nimbly dodged the rock snake's snapping jaws, rolling to the side. He didn't have Rikki's exact speed, but thankfully enough to allow him to avoid the Onix's attacks long enough to tire him out.

That, however, was unlikely, as the Onix swiped, snapped, and snarled his way to crushing Jax, possessing startling speed for such a massive creature.

Just when he thought he was safe, however, that was when the Onix's tail whipped over him and landed in a crash and another peppering of falling stones. Before Jax could leap out of the way, however, the tail snaked around him, binding him tightly—not enough to kill him, but enough to knock him out badly as he lifted Jax into the air, tightening the grip on him around the groaning, kicking, squirming Chamander.

"Oh NO!" Rikki shouted, slamming her fists on the floor.

Violet snarled, shaking her fist, a partially panicked look on her face overshadowed by anger. "HEY, that's not FAIR! Call him off, NOW!" Violet snapped, raising her voice high enough to echo through the arena, and barely carrying it to Brock's ears as she pounded her fists against the fence.

Brock folded his arms over his perch. "Onix is a very well-trained Pokemon. He won't seriously injure your Pokemon, that I promise you," he explained, but still saw the dirty look coming from the Pikachu and the girl.

"I don't CARE," Violet said, pushing her fingers against her forehead, squeezing her eyes shut. _I have to do SOMETHING! ANYTHING! _Her mind screamed mentally, filling her head with resonating cries of poorly-constructed plans. Her eyes climbed up the enormous Onix, scaling up rock by rock that made up his body, her eyes darting occasionally to Jax, as he struggled futilely to escape its grasp. There had to be something…

_Wait…_

Something flashed in Violet's mind, a memory floating back, propelled by urgency. The TM that Rory had given her—the one she had taught to Jax. Jax had told her that Rory said it would come in handy…

Was it worth a shot? What other options did she have? _I hope this works! _Violet thought as her eyes landed on Jax's claws, which clawed at the rocks squeezing him. With his claws free, it could be easy for him to land an attack the best he could, and maybe they could exacerbate it somehow.

She seized the moment. She took the only plan she had, and carried it through. "JAX!" Violet yelled out, the Charmander's eyes weakly opening and his head turning toward Violet the best he could despite being trapped in the Onix's Bind attack, "STEEL CLAW!"

Things happened all at once, completely out of order and in such a jumbled mess that Violet could barely keep track of. She recalled, vaguely, Rikki staring, wide-eyed, along with Violet as the Onix all but froze in place, its eyes widened in horror, and Jax's own eyes widening, the pupils shrinking. With a furious roar, Jax's claw suddenly began to change, metallic goo hardening as it traveled down from his fingers and encompassing his claw in a glowing, glistening mass of silver. Before the Onix could react and stop his attack, he slashed out, his metal claw grinding down the rock, sparks flying. With a shrieking cry the Onix tried to throw Jax off of it, but he continued to bury his claws deep into its rocky surface, holding on tight as he was whipped to and fro in a desperate attempt.

It failed, as Jax started to climb up the Onix's body, claws perforating in the stone as he ascended, clinging tightly and burying his toes, which quickly transformed into silvery metal as well, so scaling it would be easier. All the way the Onix lashed about, knocking into the walls, lashing about on the ground, and roaring in pain, Jax dodging every hit that could have crushed him by leaping to one side and clinging there, then resuming his hike up.

His claws finally sunk into the thicker rock protecting the Onix's head, his eyes sharp and merciless. Violet's eyes widened by another faction, the shocked thought of _Oh my GOD is he really going to kill him! _flashing through her mind with the speed of a Rapidash, rampaging worriedly and trampling her hopes with flaming, stomping hooves.

Much to her shock, Rikki once again managed to rise again, leaning on her trembling forearms as she stared around, blinking against the blurred wall that hazed the world like bright mosiacs of color. "Oookay..." she groaned, rubbing her head, "What's goin' on--"

Before she could finish her sentence, Violet plucked her off the ground and, after struggling with her weight, turned her around and placed her, feet-first, on the ground, her arms clutching her upper arms. The Pikachu watched with wide-eyed shock as she witnessed everything--Jax completely slashing up the Onix's head, the fear on Violet's head, and how gargantuan the Onix was.

"...Oh shit," was the only thing that Rikki could say.

He didn't kill it. Instead, as he straddled the Onix's head, and slid onto his nose, digging his toes into his muzzle, he swung his metal claws across its face; livid sparks flying as he tore through the rock like butter, leaving behind long, deep runnels arcing across its face, carefully avoiding the eyes with each strike he made—

--until finally, the Onix let out one last cry and started to sway drunkenly, Jax careening about on its head. Violet's mouth opened in a wide, horrified 'O' as the Onix started to fall, crashing against the ground with a tremendous SMASH that reverberated about the gym, pounding away at the echoing walls until it started to beat out of existance. It crushed rocks and threw up massive clouds of dirt that only left the silhouettes piercing through the foggy brown visible—not enough to stop Violet's worries as she struggled to penetrate the slowly dissolving dust by weak squints of her eyes and swatting away every plume of dust that wafted in her way.

_Oh. NO… _Violet thought, clasping her hands over her mouth. While she wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, she knew perfectly well that no matter how well trained Onix was, there was no way to stop an accidental death if Jax had gotten squished beneath the tremendous creature. Rikki knew this just as well as the Pikachu frantically leapt over the fence and landed on her feet, barely staggering from her remaining headache as she charged toward the slowly dissipating cloud. Up high above on his platform, Brock looked just as worried—he never intended for a casualty to occur, and he was highly cursing himself for his carelessness by using such a huge Pokemon.

Finally, the mist started to fade, and the bodies were almost fully exposed. Onix lay still, its rock body still moving up and down as it breathed. It was just unconscious. But Jax's condition, on the other hand, was still left unconfirmed.

That was, until they saw him, clutching onto the elongated crest on Onix's head, nearly dangling from it as his claws, still metallic, impaled through a new set of holes. "Hey," he said drowsily, grinning weakly, "Whaddya know. I'm still alive."

Over near Violet's platform as the girl climbed her way down and raced over to the Onix's body, running around so to get close to Jax's head, she grabbed him by the tail and yanked him down, his claws 'popping' out of the holes as the metal started to drain from him like evaporating liquid. "YOU!" Violet shouted, shaking the exhausted Charmander by the shoulders, "YOU NEVER DO THAT AGA—"

Then she noticed how completely out of it Jax looked, his eyes slumping as his shoulders did, and his legs shaking, the knees knocking together. Something wasn't right, it was easy enough for even Violet to reason, as she waved her hand in front of Jax's blankly staring, almost milky gaze, as though the Charmander's eyes had become cataracts. "Jax?"

She got no reply beyond the shuddering of his body, and the tensing of what sparse muscle flexed beneath his skin almost simultaneous to when his pupils withered down to little cyan pinpricks. Utterly shocked, Violet's own eyes widened enough to rival's Jax's at the moment, and, as his legs so much as moved in the slightest, she was almost confident that he would collapse, and lunged at him, clutching his shoulders. The Charmander lurched in her grip, his body's shaking, much to Violet's dismay, exacerbating to the point her own arms started to vibrate. Slowly, reluctantly, her fingers slowly loosened their hold on his shoulders, dismissing any touching as something that wouldn't help him.

Gulping down a giant, nervous blob of mucus that swelled up in her throat, and shaking as it struck her stomach like a cannonball, Violet asked, her voice a whisper, "Jax...Are you okay—"

Suddenly, white light burst from Jax's eyes, his whole body jerking upward as they started to glow brighter and brighter. Startled, Violet staggered back, nearly falling onto her rear as Brock raced down from his platform and opened the PokeBall with the press of a button. Tossing it toward the unconscious, rumbling Onix, he transporting the gargantuan rock snake, segment by segment of its rocky body darting back within the confines of its PokeBall. With the ball in his hand, he stared at Jax as his tail flame started to increase in as well, spilling over with blue fire as a bright column of swirling, glowing molecules started to orbit his body, going faster and faster as Jax was completely consumed by the quickly increasing fire by every pulse of his quivering heart.

Completely concerned for the Charmander, Violet reached out toward Jax as Rikki watched in shock, quietly asking, as her own nails dug into the floor. "J-Jax?" Once more, Jax gave her no reply, frightening Rikki to the point she yowled and scurried up the stairs to the platform, launching her body over the metal rim and landing on the ground, beside Violet, just before the girl had sprinted toward the Charmander.

Before her hand could even so much as brush her, Brock's hand grabbed her by the folded hood of her sweatshirt, dragging her away from the spectacle. Whirling around and thwacking away his grip, Violet demanded, cocking her head forward bitterly, creating a deep, atramentuous divot accentuating the fury in her eyes. "Hey, _what's the big idea?_"

Brock responded with a, "Whatever you do, don't touch him, understand me?"

Violet's eyebrows lifted incredulously, completely contrasting the narrow slits they had angrily become. "What the HELL, man! My damn Pokemon could be in trouble! How could y—"

She was interrupted as an oddly stoic-looking Brock grasped her by the shoulders and quickly turned her around with a simple jerk, murmuring, "Look…"

The light reflected in the girl's eyes, Violet was able to make out what appeared to be a silvery figure in the golden incandescence, flickering back and forth from a taller, uncertain creature to the shape of the Charmander that she could barely comprehend, the two forms going back and forth back and forth, becoming ever more faster until they were incomprehensible.

Then the light increased to a brilliant pitch just before it siphoned above, becoming a halo of orbs of beaming light, showering down in an almost cage-like frame around Jax's barely visible body until it was absorbed into the ground, flashing erratically.

Standing in Jax's place was another reptilian form, its skin no longer orange but a scarlet hue, and now sporting a longer tail, a stronger flame billowing at the tip. Its eyes were slightly narrowed, its claws sharper on its athletic figure, and the head was crowned with a long crest protruding from the back of his head like the ridge of a dinosaur, or the Onix's rocky headpiece. Rubbing his forehead, the reptile glanced around, murmuring in a voice that was definitely Jax's, as he seemed to have his vision freshly granted.

All he could say, as he haphazardly staggered in his place and the world came tumbling around him, was, "Oh... SHIT," he swore, trying to rub away the sudden headache that split through his skull. "What the HELL happened?"

Neither Rikki or Violet could provide an answer, both girls' jaws jaggedly hanging from their joints, and their eyes both widened like bloated marbles. It took only a few seconds waiting for his two new partners for him to abandon his patience, and he asked roughly, "What's wrong with you guys?" he asked, straightening his posture—suddenly, his eyes focused on Violet for a moment, who was now around a few inches shorter than the roughly five foot tall Pokemon. "…And since when did you get—"

As he lifted his claw to point at her for emphasis, he suddenly spotted the brick-red skin that coated his body, his eyes widening until his pupils expanded into sea green, opalescent shapes, complete illustration of his shock. "…oh my GOD," he exclaimed, holding up both his claws into his vision and inspecting each sharp nail on his fingers, counting them off with a twitch or a wiggle of his digits, "Oh my GOD."

For a good few minutes as he turned his body around at every available angle, examining every bit of his new transformation that he could, he repeated that over and over again, growing increasingly excited. "I-I EVOLVED!" he finally shouted happily, his voice stuttering from his excitement, "I can't believe it! I—This--" he finally stopped being unable to completely express himself, only grinning triumphantly and ecstatically clutching his claws to his chest, shaking with joy. He had done it--he had finally done it. He was in the middle stage--one step closer--to transforming into the strongest level of the Charmander species, where he was once perpetually frozen in it.

There was no turning back. Nothing but success awaited.

Standing off to the side, Violet tilted back on her magenta, rubbery heels of her sandals, eyes moving back and forth. Jax had yet to notice her unusual behavior, still being obsessed with his evolution--up until she pressed her knuckles against her lips and coughed, a completely false expression. Jax remained oblivious at first, happily combing his eyes over his flexing tail. Once more, a slightly irritated Violet coughed louder, somehow emphasizing how peeved she was. Thankfully, Jax overheard this final call, and whirled around to face her, eyebrows raised.

"You called?" Jax asked dryly, his sea green eyes sharp beneath his arcing eyebrows. He wasn't in the mood to deal with Violet's idiocity. This was the best thing to ever happen to him ever since he joined her group--and if Violet said ANYTHING to mess it up... well, simply said, he would gladly test out his Metal Claw again after how successful it was.

"Yeah," Violet said, slipping her hand beneath her hat and scratching awkwardly, her eyes moving away from the affronted Charmeleon. "I wanted to say congratulations."

The first thing that came out of his mouth came with hardly any thought, as he extended his claw and pointed a clawed finger up at her, his eyes narrowing further and further. "Okay, if you th--" that was when it hit him. Violet stared up at the taller Pokemon, holding up her hands defensively until she took advantage of Jax's petrified state, and nudged his claws away, at the same time the Pokemon followed her. His mouth started to open, to say something, anything, but he couldn't find the words.

All he could manage was, as disbelief smacked him, "You're…" he started in disbelief, "HAPPY I evolved?"

"Sorry if it implies the wrong thing," Violet explained quickly, mentally cursing herself for choosing the wrong words as she waved her arms guardingly, still unsure about Jax's attitude. "I'm just… happy for you." She reached around and craned her hand to scratch at the nape beneath her hair, looking guiltily at her awkwardly shuffling feet.

Jax remained absolutely dumbstruck, his jaw nearly falling in awe. It took him a second of properly adjusting his jaw almost like some Pokemon-chiropractor, but when he finally spoke, his voice--and his expression--was absolutely incredulous. "But I thought you wanted to get rid of me?" he started, his voice saturated in shock.

Violet only smirked and shrugged her shoulders. "Hey, you're not so bad..." she said, folding her arm behind her back and nervously kicking at a pebble that had the misfortune of being laid in her path, sending it flying, "And you really wanted to evolve, so... I figured this would make you happy." Giving the absolutely stunned Charmeleon a pat on the shoulder, her blue and green eyes moved off to the side, like the girl was worried she had commited some atrocity, or was concerned about Jax's feelings.

The Charmeleon was at a complete loss for words, only staring down along with Violet, his clawed toes drawing through the dirt. He started to open his mouth to say something, but it barely made it out of his mouth before he heard somebody clearing his throat, attracting the attention of both Charmeleon and girl.

"I'm sorry to interrupt this," Brock said, holding up a small box, drumming his fingers against its velvety surface. "But I think that you and your team deserve this." And with feigned dramatization, he opened it, revealing an octagonal, glistening, silver-grey badge nestled inside.

At first, Violet was completely in shock. That was, until she remembered she actually REMEMBERED that she won. That she had easily forgot in the chaos that occured with her newly-evolved Charmander. When it hit her, however, it hit. And it hit _hard. _"Oh my GOD," she blurted, eyes watering as she stared reverently at the encased badge in her palms. "My... first badge!" From her tone, it was almost like she was convinced this was some sort of dream, and that, as the grin that had spawned on her face proved, she certainly wouldn't want to wake up if it actually was one.

Reaching over with her free hand, she forcefully pinched herself in the arm, winced, and looked around. No, she was still there, Jax was still a Charmeleon, and the badge was still there, twinkling at her from its little throne. Staring, wide-eyed, at the badge a bit more as she tried to take in the reality, the girl started pinching her skin furiously, like she was in shock that she had actually succeeded in her first fight, had obtained the badge, but once her fingers were aching from how hard she kept pinching them, and her freckled skin was peppered with little, throbbing bites from where she had rather forcefully pinched.

This made it ever more joyful. Squealing once again, she closed the top of the container and hugged it, hard, against her chest and bounced up and down again, nearly breaking out into some sort of dance, as the rapid switching from foot to foot may have become. "This is _FANTASTIC!_" she shouted happily, her lips spread wide into a mirth-filled, . "I. Have. Got. My. _First. BADGE_!" The first words, as joyous as they were, were headily spit out in the midst of her leaping and jumping that seemed to transform into some odd, pirouetting victory dance, the girl holding the badge aloft over her grinning head as far as her arms could allow, like she was dancing with the badge itself.

Babbling out a long string of grateful comments in between dancing, she kicked against the ground with a rough grind of her sandals, almost bursting into laughter as she staggered over in the middle of a rather clumisily executed spin and was nearly sent toppling to the ground twice with every poorly moved sh as she cuddled the badge close to her chest and dissolved into a loud, squealing mess.

Meanwhile, Rikki leaned over to Jax, an eyebrow raised, and muttered, "SOMEONE'S had too much root beer this morning," with a well-timed roll of her eyes and a smirk, used to disguise her private examinations of Jax's new appearance, and her nod of approval for it. Deep down, she found it amusing as she watched the girl dance, but soon her eyes shifted to the handsome Charmeleon.

Brock, who had inched away from the dancing girl, could only raise his eyebrow at her as he wondered if she was ALWAYS like the crazy girl she appeared to be.

Jax remained silent, shuffling his feet as he vacantly watched Violet celebrate her first badge. For a moment, he opened his mouth once again, what he wanted to say hanging tantalizingly on his lip, until he decided against of it as he snapped his mouth shut, privately repeating what he honestly wanted to say in his mind.

Where it would probably be best left there.

_Thank you._

His reverie was suddenly broken as he heard a loud _thump, _Pikachu and Charmeleon turning their heads around over their shoulders toward Violet, who had finally fallen to the floor as her aimless dance had eventually promised. She was sprawled out on her rump and her hat lay askew on her messed moptop of azure spikes, looking nothing short of odd as she lolled her unusual neck from side to side, like she were trying to straighten it. Rikki snickered, covering her mouth with the cyan-swirled digits of her grimy paw as the girl frowned at her response, apparently unaware of her state of disarray.

"What?" she asked, her hat flopping in front of her as she leaned over, her hat nearly tipping over and onto her cutely-rounded face, something once again not realized as it fell off of her head altogether, much to her shock. "ACK!" She exclaimed, frantically groping for her hat almost the instant it hit the ground, carefully holding it up so she could delicately blow the dust off of it, even going so far as to polish a tiny, Magikarp lure on it once she spied a small hint of dust on its already marred surface.

Rikki couldn't help but continue her laughter as Violet glared at her, shaking her fist vengefully. Though, Jax noticed as a smile curled its way across his reptilian lips, Violet didn't seem to be very angry at all, since she was laughing with Rikki the next moment in uncontrollable peals, and was tilting her hat back and forth, occupying every comical angle._  
_

Maybe they weren't so bad, after all...

_**Chapter VII: Complete…**_

**Author's Note: **Now before anybody says about how short it took for Jax to evolve, I'm going by video game logic here. I've always had my Pokemon come VERY close to evolving in LeafGreen. And I figured that such an intense battle would trigger it.

Also, I'm not really sure why I customized the looks of Pewter City--maybe because I hardly really am going to go by the anime's version of Pewter, or few towns. I sort of have this story created under the image of the anime, but rather it was inspired by the game itself. And it's been forever since I've beaten Brock, so I couldn't get his personality done very well... sorry if there's any complaints about a difference from the anime there.

Oh, as another note, another new character will appear soon! Two, actually. :3V I'm trying to put in underestimated or ignored Pokemon--although Charmander and Pikachu aren't really like that. But then again, has anyone ever seen a Pikachu who dyes her fur with berry-like warpaint? X3


	8. The Great Kakuna Caper Part One

**Disclaimer: **Still don't own Pokemon. Still can't impersonate Nintendo without being faced with legal action. Still don't own more than the Tira action figure, the personalities of the characters—excluding Rory, who still belongs to Agz (aka on as Alan G. Zendra). Steal the characters—the Tira has great skill in the art of wielding the great plastic ring blade and isn't afraid to exercise it.

…my threats fall as flat as my jokes.

Now, I gotta warn you, this chapter is pretty huge, so I'm splitting it in two halves so people don't get stuck with this bigass load. The second part will probably be more interesting. But enjoy a chapter in Jax's perspective (or at least as much as a widely third-person story could get)

And hey, thanks a lot to the reviewers here, especially a new one. You guys are the best—you always encourage me to continue writing (though I doubt I'd probably ever give this project up), and get better and better.

**Chapter VIII: **The Great Kakuna Caper – Part One

--

"_Morality, like art, involves drawing a line someplace."_ **Oscar Wilde****(1854-1900)**

_Why does all this happen to me?_

In the long run, no matter how much Jax had rummaged through his mind for any possible explanation, he turned up absolutely nothing but fizzled patches of where his logic had been blown through the roof, and craters where he had decided showed where certain Trainers' stupidity had become so tremendous that they threatened to cave in his head with a force comparable to Thor's Hammer.

Normal Charmeleons were supposed to be off, prancing at their Trainer's side like some sort of dementedly overjoyed pixie, and joining them ceaselessly in their quests to collect their badges, which seemed to him like some sort of scavenger hunt rather than a credible test of skill at times. Maybe because quite a percentage of Trainers didn't emerge from them the most enlightened of individuals, or maybe because he was getting tired of the morons at Oak's lab.

But for God's sake, how many Pokemon ended up being dragged out of his bed at some ungodly hour only to end up trussed up like some sort of ghastly bush under the pretense of camouflage.

The two people he was forced to consider as partners were dressed up in the same way as they bowed deep in the foliage used as subterfuge, garbed in ridiculously large helmets with leaves glued, strapped, taped to random parts of their bodies by every means possible.

_When you get the chance, Jax, _Jax ruminated through his mind, _you run for your life, and call the nearest asylum, and tell them that my Trainer's fallen off her flipping rocker and that the fall unfortunately didn't kill her. All you need to do is wai—_

That trail of thought, however, dissolved as he realized that his two partners had arisen and were now slinking through the darkness and the pale light cast over the twisting, black shadows protruding from every direction in every shape and sloping off the cobblestone-laden ground. "Jax!" Violet hissed, voice a sibilant whisper sliding through the cold night air. The girl gestured toward the interior of the vaguely tunnel-esque structure looming high before him, the sides made up of chunks of tall, rigid crystal, varying to small to immense and casting shimmering mosaics of light from their own faint, internal blue glow.

That was what Mount Moon was generally like: partially made up of rock like an ordinary mountain, but mostly made up of glistening stones, even the waterfalls pouring into the underwater springs almost looked crystalline, even the leaves, especially during the night time. Under the pearlescent light of the moon and stars on the velvety expanse of the sky, the whole area seemed to come to life, the shadows draining colors and replacing them with dark blues and blacks subtly streaked with white, topaz, sapphire, and ethereal monochromes.

He could also see that the mountain itself also had not only various networks of gem-encrusted pathways branching into cool springs, but the occasional burrow or gaping nest of sorts, even on the sparse trees of sleeping birds. And what Violet had found was one of these, another secret, squat entrance to the mountain's cavernous interior besides the conventional ones that had been barred to them by the authorities.

Sneaking past the police that patrolled the area had been difficult enough, especially with Jax's tail flame being a sharp contrast to the cold illumination. They had to move quick, and had moved through the bushes as discreetly as a stout girl with no sense of fashion, a Pikachu completely marked in brightly colored berry juice, and an oversized Charmeleon could. But they had made it, and with some reluctance, Jax dashed inside the tunnel and blinked past the crystals jutting from the wall, almost aligned with perfect artistry around the stone ledges leading up and to the atramentuous outline of a broad door carved through the rock streaking up the wall. Violet quickly removed her helmet and looked up at Rikki, her vibrantly colored body and greasy fur standing well against the light.

"Yeah! We made it!" Violet applauded herself, pumping her fist. Before either Charmeleon or Pikachu could react, she leapt onto the first step and let out a gasp as it started to glow with the same blue internal light that most of the crystals had.

At first she leapt off of it, watching it suspiciously along with Jax, before Rikki got tired of their staring and yawned. "It's not gonna bite you all," she said lazily, rubbing at her eye, "So could we get goin' now? I'd like to get in bed, boss."

Violet redirected her eyes back onto the glowing stone, and, swallowing her breath down, leapt right over it and onto the second stone, which started to spark with the same light. Yelping, she scampered up the stairs, evading the lights all the way as they started to flourish into existence, and all but divebombed when she reached the platform leading to the doorway. Jax stared away from them, more focused on the light and considering his circumstances when Rikki called out, voice beating briefly against the polished walls, "Come on, Jax!"

Sea-green eyes, looking slightly eerie in the light, moved up to face her as he drew his palm down his face, gave an exasperated sigh, and started to ascend up the stairs. _Okay, I lost my chance. _Biting back another sigh as he stepped through the door's threshold and past the oddly genial-looking Rikki, where he was greeted with darkness. _Well, here we go._

_Time to face the music._

--

**Three Days Ago…**

Back in some, distant part of Jax's mind that he hadn't bothered to remember, there was a moment that had led up to the asinine spectacle that Violet and Rikki ended up carrying through, of such exaggerated standards that even Rikki, who vehemently considered herself Violet's bodyguard regardless of her personality quirks that got in the way, was starting to have doubts of Violet's sanity.

It didn't start immediately. It just happened in small doses, when they had departed Pewter City a few days after their tenacious victory with the local Gym Leader, Brock. To put it simply, they had all enjoyed Pewter's resources thoroughly, maybe even taken complete advantage of. Warm beds, good food, and fair company was something that separated civilization from the harrowed passages of hardworking Trainers.

Jax was admittedly that of more innocent intentions, dedicating most of his time to seeing the museum, maybe Violet the most, but Rikki was undoubtedly the troublemaker, having stolen, wreaked havoc upon, and defaced the city all in one day. If anything, they had escaped to avoid the authorities as they hastily prepared to leave the moment they leapt out of their beds.

Violet, however, wasn't all that willing to leave the luxuries provided.

"FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, VIOLET!" Jax snarled out through grit teeth, "Just LET IT GO!"

The blue-haired girl, however, did nothing of the sort as she pressed her magenta sandals as deep as they would go, the constant grinding and kicking forward in attempts to grab back at land when she came close to being pulled back, and away from the sign she was clinging so ardently to. Nails scraping across the wood, she managed to thrust enough of her body out of Jax's grip as he yanked on the folded back hood of her sweatshirt, struggling to pry her off.

"JUST ONE MORE DAY!" Violet shouted, clenching on the rim until her knuckles turned milky pallid, "_ONE MORE DAY_!"

With a yelp from Jax, the surprisingly strong girl managed to almost leap out of his grasp again. The last thing Jax wanted was to give her an opening where she would end up clinging to the sign protectively all night.

He definitely knew she would do that.

It was the sound of Rikki's muffled snickering that made Jax snap, the whole right half of his face twitching into petrification. Peering over his shoulder to glance at the unusually-colored Pikachu, he found her standing not far from him even as Violet once more slipped out of his grip. "And what…" Jax snarled, raising an eyebrow as he dubiously eyed the Churro the Pikachu was happily wolfing down. "…pray tell, is so funny?"

Rikki froze, her eyes moving back and forth and her jaws halting mid-gyration as though she had suddenly become self-conscious about her every movement under the taller, lanky Charmeleon's scrutiny. As Jax took a deep breath and stomped over to where Violet was, indeed, protectively clinging to the sign and hissing at anything that came past like a rabid dog, he edged quickly away when the girl turned toward him with a shockingly intimidating look that distantly reminded Jax of a Snubble.

Wincing, thoroughly disturbed, Jax nudged away from the girl and started to flex his claws back into full length, testing them against his palm. "And hey, what are ya glarin' at me for?" Rikki asked, taking another bite of the Churro before she negligently waved it at him like an edible club. "I'm busy, Mister Human Torch." Jax narrowed his eyes at the Churro. By God, he would find whoever gave her that sugary loofah, and he would kill them.

"Oh forget it," Jax said, clenching his fists and storming towards Violet, who already locked her nails into the sign again as she gave another primal hiss. Before she could do much of anything, not even bat at Jax or give him so much as a scrape, he leapt behind her again and grabbed her by the hood, nearly pulling her upper body over in her moment of shock. Hiking his foot up onto the base of the molding wood keeping the sign upright, and, transferring as much energy as possible into his arms, he pulled one last time, and to much more significant effects.

Finally, with one last, forceful tug, her fingers loosened from their firm position and sent her flying back, nearly throwing Jax off his feet if he hadn't braced himself for the expected impact. The girl's back slammed against his stomach, and, despite all of Jax's efforts to try and balance himself before the inevitable, they collapsed back in a short-lived cloud of dust and the crunching of the thickening packs of grass that flourished outside the cobblestones.

Unfortunately, no matter how springy grass is, it still hurts when you fall over. It hurts even worse when get squished by a slightly overweight girl about your height at the same time. As he the stars swam in his warbling vision, he barely had the energy to pry an equally sedated Violet away with his lingering strength. In the throes of dizziness, all he could say was a sore, "_Ow_…" before his head thumped back against the dusty ground, and he tried to somehow magically plug his ears without the use of his fingers as Rikki's snickering cackled from above.

The insanely grinning Pikachu hid her mouth behind a tattooed hand and managed to bite off the chuckling to attempt her best effort at looking innocently angelic. The berry-smothered rodent failed, and quite spectacularly, maybe because she kept breaking down and howling as she kept noting Jax's state of tipsiness.

Splayed out on the ground, Violet managed to narrow her eyes into thin, off-colored slits of moss and cloudy blue, even as her whole perspective of the world was flipped upside down, much like her body. Lifting a finger and pointing accusingly at Rikki (or a blurry, shifting figure that looked like her), she raspily muttered in complete monotone, "You both suck." Which really just sounded like a half-hearted mumble as she tried to rub away a steadily rising migraine pulsing beneath her disheveled, blue bangs. "Y'know that?"

The fact she realized her hat had fallen off and was now laying a few feet from her head, the many badges and trinkets on it—including the Boulder Badge, fastened onto the PokeBall leather band—marred with dirt. That just cinched her sour mood. Looking like she was ready to set the next person who asked her about her day on fire, she snatched it off the ground and jerked it so far down it nearly completely concealed her eyes under the strip of shadows.

Two hours awake and Jax was already having the time of his life.

Jax finally got the energy to stand up and brush himself off once the world had stopped doing flip-flops as he began a mental campaign to restore his fragmented dignity. One, however, could only look so dignified after such an incredibly embarrassing scene. As Violet completed her brief tirade with a creative use of profanity, he had done his fair share of completely ignoring her words, in between dusting himself free of grime. Finally he found something to say just as he and Violet shot a pair of dirty looks at Rikki, who looked like she had been interrupted from a very entertaining TV show by being dragged away kicking and screaming.

Much like Violet, in a way.

"Well," Jax muttered absently, rubbing off a stain of dirt on his forehead with a few, irritated rubs of his wrist, "I don't know about you two, but I'm going ahead. Feel free to stay behind. I doubt you'll be getting any other badges in Pewter."

That was enough to make Violet spring to her feet, bouncing on her heels, and completely energized and enthused. "Holy crap, he's right!" she proclaimed, side-stepping Rikki as the Pikachu scuttled out of her leg's reach. "We gotta keep going!" Seizing the brim of her hat and tugging it down until it was completely settled on her hair, which then resembled some sort of shrubbery more than a feasible hairstyle. "Lead the way, o scaly one!"

Thrusting her finger outward, Violet, without a second's pause beyond a moment to shout "Onward!" encouragingly and dash forward, rocketing past the man who was staring, quite unnerved, after the girl's leaping strides until she had completely darted away from the two, solid rock walls flanking the exit of the city.

Jax and Rikki, ignoring the exceedingly disturbed man who nervously stared at the Pikachu, the Charmeleon, and the nefarious Churro as they padded along behind them, kicking at an unfortunate pebble that had immediately become the center of their wasted energy. "I told you you shouldn't have given her that much coffee," Jax finally broke the silence between them, barely mumbling it out of the corner of his mouth, just loud enough for Rikki to hear.

Another inch of the Churro disappeared inside her mouth before it was swallowed rather hastily, and the Rikki stopped in her tracks as what Jax said drilled its way through her greasy mess of hair to viciously stab at her brain. Fuming, she ripped off another chunk of the Churro with her teeth, growling around the bit in her mouth. "Hey!" she snapped, slapping Jax's leg with the now quite stubby Churro, "It was only ONE CUP."

Jax just sighed, irritably staring off into space with an eerily contained expression kept only rigid by the spastic twitching of his eyes. "Yes, but then you had to give her that second one. And that third one."

"That was you and you know it!" Rikki shouted, shaking the Churro vengefully at him. At this point, Jax felt sorely tempted to snatch the Churro from her and throw it over into the nearest body of water, but he dismissed such spiteful ideas to probably just do nothing but create more trouble. That wasn't something a pissed Charmeleon should do.

So he remained silent, much to Rikki's irritation, as she silently raged around her last bite of the delicious treat. As she dusted her hands free of sugar, she finally heard the footsteps of the man as he retreated, running like there was no tomorrow back to Pewter. "…what the hell's wrong with him?" she asked, jerking her thumb behind her.

Jax barely gave it a passing glance before he automatically responded, "Oh, he's running for his life."

"Really now?" Rikki asked idly, twirling a lock of red-orange between her slender fingers.

For a moment then, Jax had to struggle with every bit of muscle in his legs to keep him from running right after that man.

--

"Huh," Violet bit at her lip and gnawed at it thoughtfully, pacing endlessly in quick, monotonous circles with her PokeDex raised before her eyes.

How the girl managed to maneuver out of the way of several rocks that looked pretty capable of stubbing her toe quite badly on them when she was so unfocused on her surroundings couldn't help but astound Jax as he stood, leaning against another rock. Rikki, meanwhile, was perched atop a squatter, flatter rock, her eyes following Violet as she wandered back and forth. As she squinted so she could get the best look she could from her distance, she finally spotted the map glowing on the screen.

"What're you looking over?" Jax finally bit the bullet and asked, the girl's gaze not even budging from the route the cursor highlighting Route 3, a direct path lined mostly with rocks, rocks, and more rocks, and breaking away into brief patches of meadow and tall grass, as the colors of the map indicated.

It was just that Violet was giving it more attention than what was necessary as they navigated the vaguely labyrinthine rock jungle. Nibbling on the edge of her pinky's nail, Violet finally replied after a good few minutes of turning the PokeDex's map to every possible degree and angle. "Just the name of the next place we're going," Violet hurriedly said, scratching at the nape of her neck from under her askew hood. "Mount Moon, right?"

Jax sat down, eyebrow curving over a sea-green eye. "Yeah, Mount Moon," he explained, "It should be on the map. Inside the mountain, there's a series of pathways and levels that would eventually lead to Cerulean City. That's where we're supposed to go to get our second badge."

"Well well well," Rikki chuckled in a mockingly melodious tone as she pushed her legs off of the platform and started pendulously swinging them back and forth. "I didn't know you were such a know-it-all, Jaxxy." She smirked out of the corner of her mouth, tapping on the paint-covered patch of red on her cheek (and nearly igniting it with static electricity at the same time).

Jax, for some reason, found talking to Violet about actually important tasks seemed sort of therapeutic. Then again, he enjoyed being valued, and he HAD spent years culminating information at Oak's office, even when he hadn't even ventured outside the town for the seventeen years of his life. "I've grown up with Oak. It's not that big of a surprise," he said with a loose shrug.

His casual demeanor popped like a balloon when he heard—and saw—Violet drop onto her rear beside him, sprawling her legs comfortably in front of her as she held the map upright. "This," Violet started, tracing along the pathway thinly illustrated in luminescent brown, "How long should it take for us to get through this?" She tapped the end of it towards a pyramidesque, blue structure painted among some simplistic, tiny pixels representing leaves, and a 'P' that probably indicated a Pokemon Center of sorts near it.

Jax leaned back, still keeping his expression slightly incredulous up until he formulated an answer. "…not sure," Jax admitted. Pressing his hand against a rocky wall for leverage as he rose to his feet, he lifted his gaze up to the upper rim of a large, rocky ledge protruding out of the massive walls—if they got closer, they could probably get a good view of their next surroundings.

The idea of a nice Pokemon Center to rest in was quite appealing. And he heard Mount Moon was gorgeous from the mouths of Professor Oak's many aides who were fortunate enough to study near the landmark.

Rikki tossed herself off the edge of her rock, landing on her feet in a slight crouch. "Well, let's get goin', then," she said cheerfully, immediately turning for the nearest exit, which she was almost positive wasn't going to lead into circles. "I wanna see this Mount Moon for myself if it's so awesome."

Jax couldn't help but be slightly shocked as Violet sprung to her feet and straightened her out within a second's time like some sort of brightly colored, blue-haired beach ball, pumping her hand enthusiastically, grin dominating her mouth. "Yeah, let's get goin'!" Violet agreed, folding up the PokeDex and slipping it into her backpack in a compartment beside her Kakuna's. I want to see it too. My parents visited it once," she nodded happily, then resumed her trek. "They said it was gorgeous."

Five seconds had passed with Jax staring after them, his mind suddenly curious. Violet never mentioned much about her parents, or her family in general, although he HAD met Mr. and Mrs. Amaranth before they left Pallet Town, and they seemed like very benign people.

Then again, Jax himself never knew his parents to begin with, so maybe it was just a natural fascination, he decided.

--

It was almost night time as the twilight leaked away under the blackening skies, streams of cloudy mist floating through the air illuminated by the bright beacons of the moon. Finding their way through the pathways would be somewhat difficult with it being both dark and with the travelers getting exhausted and cranky. Not even enthusiasm could keep Violet from wanting to go to sleep. She had been the first to complain about her exhaustion. Jax himself grew tired quickly after that—all the collective yawns in the group did that. Not only that, he definitely was eager to find some place warm against the cold—a tail flame, while making a good reading light/weapon/life barometer, wasn't a complete defense against chills.

Thankfully, Violet had packed a few blankets—the girl needed to restock on supplies, but Jax made the blanket last, combined with his tail flame, which flickered beneath the wavering stream of misty smoke with the rising, amber embers.

Rikki had already claimed the nearest rock as her sleeping post, rejecting Violet's previous insistence that she should use a blanket, because she was both used to not using them when she lived in the forest, and because she was completely adamant about staying alert for the nonexistent dangers of the pathway.

Jax for one was at first suspicious about her intentions, because part of him accused her of ditching them as they slept.

Even though there didn't seem to be a danger in sight, Violet rather appreciated the help, unlike Jax. Kicking off her sandals near a rock that they had unofficially made their landmark as, she curled up under her blanket, cradling her backpack. Curling up the blanket's top so she would have something to rest her head against, she sleepily started to unzipper her backpack, fatigue ratcheting her movements.

Jax was already starting to nod off as the cold no longer began to affect him until he was awakened by the sharp sound of the teeth of the zipper loosening and falling out of their locked embrace, splitting the backpack open. "What're you doin'?" he asked as he stretched languidly in his nest, tiredness slurring his voice.

Violet reached within the backpack and carefully drew out the Kakuna, the mustard-yellow glowing against the faint light Jax's tail flame provided. "Checkin' out Zeeg," Violet said, brushing away a few bangs that insisted on wilting into her face constantly, "I think there's somethin' different about him."

Jax groaned, rolling onto his side and away from the two. "There's nothing different about him…" he said around a monstrous yawn and a soft pound as he flattened his fist against the blanket, probably in an effort to tenderize the blanket before he enveloped himself in it.

Violet, however, wasn't so easily convinced. She turned the Kakuna over in her hands, frowning at him. For the most part, nothing seemed different at all, but for whatever reason, she remained perturbed, worry eating away at her scrunching expression. "He… kinda looks bigger," she noted, carefully measuring the Kakuna's length with her blurring eyes the best she could. For Violet, she had been having difficulty with the backpack, this was very true—and had nearly fallen over, or failed to zipper up her backpack completely. It was starting to seem all the more possible, but Jax was too exhausted to deal with it. The distant, muffled snoring of their so-called bodyguard didn't help anything at all—it both exacerbated his tiredness and lulled him asleep like some uncouth melody.

"We'll talk. About it. Tomorrow," Jax grunted out each word, then let out a low, relieved sigh as he curled up completely, drawing his knees up to his stomach. Violet immediately objected to his efforts to go to sleep, but before she could even open her mouth, Jax snapped even more firmly than before in a low growl, "TOMORROW."

And then, with a final grunt, he buried his head beneath the blanket and snorted. The conversation was _over._

Violet spent a good amount of time just throwing him rancorous, disapproving glares, one hand on her hip and the other wrapped around the Kakuna. Apparently being capable of keeping her expression frozen in one for long periods of time, Violet's glare never wavered until she finally grew tired herself, and realized from a snore that came within a few minutes that Jax was truly asleep. Rolling her eyes, she stared down at the Kakuna, then stared at her backpack. _I … don't think I can fit him in there, _she thought.

It took a moment of pressing and shoving, but she finally managed to fit him inside, although the whole backpack bulged at the seams. Wincing as though in sympathy for the abused fibers of the backpack, she finally turned over, and, staring at Jax's tail flame almost hypnotically, drifted away to sleep.

--

"Okay, I admit it."

It was finally daylight, and the trio had resumed their wandering, and with the same antics as normal, then consisting of Violet sticking her chubby lower lip out in an almost cute, overexaggerated, furious pout at Jax, Jax being forced to carry her backpack after a great deal of pushing and shoving, and Rikki starting to crave Churros all over again (Jax and Violet had to tie her down at one point to keep her from running back to Pewter to steal another one).

Sighing and weighing the backpack in his hand, Jax started to peer in to the slight opening that the zipper had failed to seal, his eyes meeting the hard-shelled surface of the Kakuna's head. Yes, he finally acknowledged that he WAS indeed getting bigger, and it seemed that he was growing by the day—it could have been that, or some sort of illusion from carrying him for too long. Either way, when he finally admitted it, he had been forced to read a written script that Violet had jotted down just for that moment, consisting entirely of repetitions of "Violet is smart" or "Violet is awesome" or other flattering adjectives that took up both sides of the paper.

And they'd barely made it to the halfway mark, and still hadn't seen a good view.

With this in mind as he tried to ignore the heaviness of the backpack, he happened to not be looking where he was going. Before he knew it, and just as he started to lift his head, his body collided with a splintery, wooden surface and was nearly sent sprawling backwards. Staggering and clutching his nose, Jax glared at the tree, deciding to focus most of his anger there instead of Rikki's snickering.

"What. The. HELL," Jax snarled, "Just my flipping luck. We've barely been awake for an hour, and what, I run into a fricking TREE—"

Violet didn't seem to be listening to his ranting, though, and was more likely, judging by where her eyes were and by the expression on her face, that she was paying more attention to the tree itself. As Jax went on and on, Violet walked past him, tilting her head and staring up the scratchy surface and peeling slabs of bark, eyes darting across the multitude of branches that seemed to mark each foot.

"—and it's like God decides to make even the FOLIAGE kick me in the a—"

"Hey!" At the sound of Violet's voice, Jax turned around, half-ready to start ranting into her face.

Thankfully, he managed to exhibit some self control despite the pain ballooning in his nose, and the bump had sent his mind reeling around like it were encapsulated in a tornado. Then there was the matter of a headache that was already starting to stab its way into his brain thanks to Rikki's doubtless sadistic interest in his pain.

"What!" Jax exclaimed, nearly dropping the backpack in a clumsy jumble.

Either completely unaware of or completely blocking out Jax's ire, Violet merely grinned in response, like she had discovered something absolutely breathtaking or groundbreaking. Taking hold of Jax's head, she tilted it up the length of the tree, until they both found something that could qualify as a top. "This is a big tree," she stated proudly, nodding.

Well, yes, it WAS a big tree, barren of leaves and probably home to more insects than any wildlife, resembling more of an immense, wooden pillar, towering high into the sky and ascending past the stone walls and formations to where blue spread about them with the clouds and the birds. That much Jax noticed.

Staring numbly back down to Violet, he stared incredulously at her for a good few minutes before disbelief chiseled away from his mind, and he could only ask, "…so?"

Violet waved her arms back over to the tree, trying her best to emphasize its hugeness with her slight, stocky frame. "No, it's a REALLY BIG TREE," she repeated.

"Yes," Jax said, gesturing to the top with his thumb, "And the Pidgeys up there are laughing at us."

"COME ON!" Violet burst, shaking his shoulders, "This thing could give us a perfect view of Mount Moon and a way out of here!"

Jax's jaw could have dropped if he hadn't completely forced his mouth shut for the sake of his pride, and knowing he would look ridiculously fish-like if he gaped at her. Still stunned, he slowly conceded, "….Jesus. That's actually a good idea. Just," what little enthusiasm he had shorted out and flickered out in a hiss of static, "Who the heck are we going to have go up there?"

There was a moment of silence as the two stared at each other, save for Rikki's chattering laughter, which was finally dying down. Eyes narrowed venomously, Jax's lips coiled upright in a sadistic grin as he gave Rikki an almost vengeful, triumphant look. When Rikki was finally aware of the pair of eyes set on her, she nervously looked between the two, back and forth, quicker and quicker, until they settled on Jax.

"Oh, this is BULLSHI—"

--

"I can't believe I'm doin' this," Rikki muttered, shiftily sliding along the length of a branch before she leapt at the trunk, digging her nails into it and slowly edging her way upward, paws paddling and kicking apart bark and wood as she struggled her way up.

The tiny, electrical rodent was indeed moving, but not making a great deal of progress as she scaled it by inches, keeping her pace slow enough so to avoid tripping up and falling—and that would NOT have been a good thing. From below, Violet and Jax watched, sidestepping the falling flakes of wood with dry casuality. Cupping her hands over her mouth as they steadily kept track of her progress, Violet called out, "HOW FAR UP ARE YOU!"

The voice was too indistinct for them to hear. "…What?" Violet asked, perking up an ear. When all she got was the same garbled tongue, she looked helplessly to Jax with a shrug. "What was that?"

"I think it was a curse," Jax said bluntly.

"ohhh," said Violet as she nodded, completely unaffected by this. "…well, I think we might be here for a while. What're we gonna do?"

"Not sure," Jax admitted with a sigh, rubbing at his eyes with two skillful, massaging fingers.

Violet didn't reply, the girl folding her arms behind her back and starting to swing her leg toward a random pebble. She returned once again to contentedly nipping at her lower lip, although that time, some sort of wistful, thoughtful look dominated her girlish face. Jax wasn't sure he particularly liked that—this sort of look normally meant that someone was trying to drum up an idea, and in the hands of someone like Violet, ideas were normally not very good things.

So he braced himself for the worst and started poking at a rock until a little beetle scuttled out from beneath its disturbed burrow, toying with the idea of squishing it for no reason until he heard the telltale, crisp sound of a pair of fingers snapping. Rolling his eyes and looking up, he slowly took in Violet's look of personal mental triumph, and found his dread sizzle and die screaming.

Five seconds passed in silence until Jax broke. "I'll bite," he conceded, "What idea do you have?"

This was exactly what she wanted Jax to hear, her lips curving into a mischievous, maybe semi-diabolical, devilish grin around her suddenly fanged teeth—which, Jax realized, was merely just an optical illusion, just like the lightning he could have sworn illuminated and crashed theatrically behind her. "What idea do I have?" she repeated, sliding smoothly up to her backpack and plucking it off the ground. Six seconds had passed, and Jax was already impressed by Violet's uncanny ability to stay locked without any sort of pain or twitching of her muscles. "Why Jax… I have the most entertaining experience a human mortal can possibly experience right here in the palm of my—" she stared down at the backpack, then looked up, resuming her rambling, "…backpack."

And suddenly, as she slipped her hand inside one of the compartments on the side, Jax knew then that he was completely and utterly doomed.

--

"Got any threes?"

Sitting cross-legged with exaggerated regalness atop another, conveniently flat rock, Violet stared down at the rows of cards aligned neatly between her fingers. After pausing for dramatic effect, Violet finally declared with a barking laugh, "HA! Go fish!"

From beside her, but still at a fair distance, and without the special effects (or without a rock to sit on), Jax let out a low sigh as he blankly reached into the pack of cards before him, drawing another one. "Uh, Violet," Jax started, rolling the card in between his two digits in an almost complicated gesture, watching the two, red, crowned Dragonites on the cards rotate with blank fascination. "I don't mind playing card games with you, seriously…" he started, trailing off purposely as he struggled to verbalize what he wanted.

Violet tilted her head obliviously. "Well, what?" she questioned, leaning across the short distance between them (and keeping her knees away from the cards piled up) and waving her hand in his face, much to Jax's irritation, "Come on, tell me. I'll be nice."

"Uh-huh," Jax muttered, unconvinced as he redirected one of the cards between his fingers when he started to suspect Violet of trying to steal a peek at them, "Well, I thought it was pretty obvious. Apparently not." Turning his head to the side as it lolled into his free hand, propped up on his elbow, he pointed to the extra player in the circle, sitting with rocky stiffness behind a carefully organized row of cards kept upright by a tiny arrangement of pebbles and sticks. "Do we HONESTLY have to include the frickin' Kakuna?"

Violet turned her head toward Zeeg, staring at him with such intensity that Jax was convinced Violet was startled by the news of Zeeg's inanimacy. When her appraisal was complete, she looked back to Jax with a small, mocking smirk of braces and yellowed teeth. "Hey," she said, setting her hand on her hip, "You're just jealous because he's won all of the card ga—"

"EUREKA!"

Before Violet could finish her statement, the familiar voice of a certain Pikachu screeched out from above, her voice resonating in the air from down the countless feet and branches. Both their heads turned up to stare at her miniscule, yellow figure, just a blur perched smartly on one of the thicker branches and, from the smug look on her face that they assumed was there, applauding her own achievement. It was fairly obvious that the only way she could really be heard was by speaking up, so, as she cupped her hands around her mouth to form a virtual megaphone, she called down, "I see Mount Moon!"

At this news, Violet almost sent her cards scattering and fluttering about as she leapt excitedly to her feet, hopping up and down. "You did?" Violet exclaimed, the girl's exuberance beaming from every tanned, speckled pore, "How far is it? What did it look like? Is there a Pokemon Center there? Is—"

"Knock off the questions for a moment," Rikki countered, frowning down at the girl for the briefest of seconds before her pride kicked in again, bloating her upper chest contentedly and schooling her face beneath her colorful bangs in a jubilant Cheshire's smirk. "But yeah, Mount Moon's there, and it ain't too far from here, I think! We should probably get there in…" she stared back out over the expanse of the field, her eyes catching onto the orange blaze of the sunset, streaking over the clouds in painted lavender and the fading remnants of blue. "…A day, if we go to bed now. And as for what it looked like…"

If Violet and Jax could make out her face, she broke out into a broad, genuine smile. "God, it looked great. It looks so fantastic from here, but I bet it looks even better up close. It looks like a bigass gemstone," she said, lifting her hand over her eyes to shade herself from the spades of light and protect her eyes the best she could as she kept glancing back. "And I see a lot of tents and a small Pokemon Center, so we're in luck when we go there."

Whirling away from the tree, Violet's face started to stretch into a wide, triumphal simper as the girl joyfully bounced once more, nearly knocking over the cards and almost knocking over Zeeg (who eventually did when gravity kicked in) as she started running around, scooping up her possessions and trying to stuff the cards back in their box. "What are we waitin' for!" she asked as Rikki started the slow descent down the tree, "Come on, let's get going!"

Violet's mirth came with such strength that her words were practically boomed out as if they were projected through a stereo system, and her speed was fast and graceless enough as she finished her packing and scooped Zeeg off the ground, passing him into Jax's arms. "Hey, we still need to wait for Rikki," Jax reminded her, rubbing at his stomach where the Kakuna was shoved against, "Although leaving her up there would be tempting…"

"Don't you DARE," was Rikki's threatful reply as she fell from another level and started to slide down a branch onto another one beneath her.

"Come on Jax, don't tell me you're not excited," Violet said, slinging her arm around his shoulders and tugging him close to her in an almost brotherly (or sisterly) act of affection that really just scared Jax more than anything else, "Mount Moon sounds really awesome, and it's about time we found a good place to sleep, whaddya say?"

Okay, so she was right. Rikki's description, while not the best that would come from a Pikachu with a limited vocabulary, still sounded enough to continue to pique a slowly materializing enthusiasm. The promise of a warm bed, however, overshadowed both of those desires, however—as well as finally setting Zeeg down for a bit.

They spent a few more minutes walking—that was the original plan at least. It ended up extending much longer than that as Violet kept moving, her feet slickly gliding her over rocks and up ledges with bounding strides. Despite the short length of her legs, she remained adamantly alert and kept her Pokemon behind in the dust—then again, it was Jax who did most of the walking, because he not only had to keep Zeeg in his arms, but carry an exhausted Rikki who, blessedly, was too tired to aggravate him or be her usual, mousy self. With no clock to rely on to display the time they had to look to the sky again, which soon turned pitch black and the moon replaced the sun. As the darkness deepened and thickened into and opaque tapestry with each passing minute, fatigue became impossible to ignore.

"Violet," Jax heaved, taking one, final step before he stopped altogether, halfway ready to drop his charge and curl up, blanket or not. "It's getting late. I'm getting exhausted…" he stifled a yawn the best he could without the use of his hands, then continued, "Rikki's exhausted, hell, I'd think Zeeg would be exhausted if he was doing any actual walking."

The girl finally stopped as she lifted her foot to leap up over another rock blockade, turning around to face him. She seemed disappointed, the deep lines of her expression carved in by the shadows created by the darkness and her hat, and making even her appearance hard to determine. The blackness was swallowing everything up that hadn't been devoured by the blur slinking in through Jax's vision.

"Come on… just five more minutes?" Violet offered, but Jax was able to tell from her voice that she was even tired too.

It couldn't go on any further, and just as Violet said her request, her head sagged and her gaze slipped to the ground. "…alright," she finally surrendered, dropping abruptly on her rear like a rag doll, her arms rubbery and her movements limp. Jax had never seen her this tired before, and he, frankly, never wanted to stay up really late ever again, especially after his experience by staying up when he was wary of Rikki.

"I won't use a blanket," Jax said, setting Rikki's body off to the side as he slumped against the rock wall, head baring his neck as it fell onto his shoulder, and his tail draped over his leg, sparsely flickering its tired, orange glow near his vaguely luminous form. In Violet's condition, the girl was still able to roll out a blanket and stuff some extra ones to form a makeshift sleeping bag since none of her Pokemon were using blankets.

_I think I need pajamas, _Violet thought with a yawn as she stretched her arms over her head, and then picked Zeeg off the floor, trudging to her 'bed' again. _Or hell, some electric blanket or I could convince Jax to turn his tail into some kinda… _She couldn't even finish that thought as she tried to scrape up an inventive term, but failed. Nearly all but collapsing on the comforter, she drew the covers up and wrapped her arms around the Kakuna's form, almost like a stuffed toy. In the incoherent mumbling that split the silence two minutes later, only two words became audible, "…Night, Jax."

Twitching slightly from being jolted out of his brief slumber, Jax barely looked at her over the warmth of his tail, then let his eyelids close again, blocking out everything. "…Night, Violet."

And then they slept.

--

In the stillness of the night, they moved, leaping over stones and dragging their feet across the ground without so much as a whisper in the split second they remained before launching themselves in the air again, bounding through the wintery air like torpedoes, invisible in the darkness.

Finding the makeshift encampment was easy, and lurking around them with the same graceful silence that they had traveled with was much easier. They had watched them for hours—kept concealed by taking everything that would keep them hidden to their advantage. Locating their bodies was made simpler by the highlighted glow curved over the lumps and bumps of the sleeping, rising and falling figures, but for the sake of their operations, they didn't want to risk falling into the light, lest they be discovered. They clandestinely surrounded them—crowding on the tall rock walls, crouching in the sands, and peering over the boulders from every angle until they finally spotted what they needed.

The swiftest, and probably most capable in their group leapt down from their seat, barely remaining in a crouch before he rose back up and tiptoed around the girl—they had heard them call the unusual youth Violet. Eyes darting over her form and squinting at the surroundings, he finally caught something—the brief spot of yellow, unconsumed by black.

_Bingo…. _he thought at first, but realized that the girl had what they were looking for wrapped up in her arms, completely in a tight embrace. It'd be impossible to slip it out of the girl's grip without being spotted—she couldn't sleep that deeply, right?

Well, if they had any knowledge of Violet's deep sleeping habits, they probably could have done just about anything and not have woken her up. Still, as risky as it was, they could manage a touch. Maybe a way to slide their target down past her arms and into the arms of those that needed it.

Gulping mutely, and trying to stay undistracted by the gazes of clusters of his fellows, he extended a quaking paw, the fingers barely brushing against the Kakuna's shell when the girl lurched all of a sudden, mumbling something under her heady breath. Cursing his luck, he leapt back just as he saw her eyes open, moist corneas barely glittering by the light.

_She was awake._

And so they had no choice but to retreat as fast as they could before she could become lucid enough to determine their figures, leaping away in every direction, bouncing along the stones and flying through the air. Behind them, the girl's eyes widened as a silhouetted figure streaked away, its form scrambling into a swift leap, gaining momentum by a few bounces, and then soaring over the rock wall after it. "Hey!" Violet exclaimed, sitting upright.

Her eyes frantically combed what little of the surroundings she could make out, hastened by nervousness as she slowly set Zeeg down on the comforter beneath her, trying not to lean against him, despite how startled she was.

Predictably, she located nothing, and her uncertainty was quick to vanish.

"Okay, that's it," she declared under her breath as she slid back under the sheets and gathered Zeeg in her arms, "No more watching scary movies with my Mom."

And then she fell asleep.

**Chapter VIII (Part One) Completed…**

**Author's Note: **Augh… sorry about the length of this chapter, and sorry about if anybody didn't like this chapter or got frustrated. Like I said, the second chapter will likely be more interesting. Or so I hope. At least I'm managing regular updates.


	9. The Great Kakuna Caper Part Two

**Disclaimer:** I still don't own Pokemon. I don't own Rory, she's Agz's (or Alan G. Zendra on Note: Alright alright alright, I've got some 'splainin' to do.

I apologize, first off, for not getting out a new chapter. I'm a little disappointed that the last chapter wasn't all that great, so I've been trying to think of a way to get this chapter off. I promise that if this isn't an improvement, I WILL rewrite the chapter so it's better. You guys deserve something entertaining to read. But that isn't the reason I've been absent. I admit that it's because my life was at sort of a troubled state. It had been one bad day after another, and another, and when I thought it's all going to get better, it just returned and crushes me. I'd rather not go into details out of fear of bein' a drama queen, but more often than not I've been like that. But enough 'bout that. I also chalk this lateness and any flaws up to writer's block. Damn thee, writer's block.

Thank you, Owl and Bigfoot, for your reviews. Not only 'cos of their presence, but because you've stated what you've liked and disliked, so that way I could work on how to make this chapter at least moderately better than the last one. I appreciate that above anything else, and I thank you guys for giving me your honest opinion. )

This still won't be all that great though. I've been in such a bad mood because of the stuff going on, so I think my humor's been vacuumed like some sort of mound of dust. A big, happy mound of dust. I can be poetic in my depression, at least. But bear with me folks, bear with me. Also, at least Bigfoot's birthday is on the same day as mine—it makes remembering it easier. P (makes a cake for him)

As a note, this is the end of the Kakuna Caper series, and the next chapter will move it along through the escapade in Mount Moon. There, early on in there, you'll meet a new character.

**Chapter IX: **The Kakuna Caper – Part II

**--**

The next day, Rikki's calculations had come true. It had only taken a few paces for the glorious view of the enormous gemstone that was Mount Moon to become fully before their eyes, sparkling and glittering under the golden rays of the horizon. Following the train of blue reflecting off of the stones as they gradually smoothened down like hundreds of jagged mirrors made navigating the labyrinthine path easy.

Although, as they had broken free from the exit and stumbled out into the open, they hadn't expected what awaited them.

"Oh. My. GOD."

It was true Rikki had mentioned a camp. But she hadn't mentioned how utterly packed the field outside of the beautiful mountain of crystals and blue would be.

Triangles of fabric and discontent figures completely crowded the area, compact in every corner surrounded by canyons and sleek towers of glowing crystals. The voices of many a malcontent grumbled in the air like churning gravel, Pokemon and human alike pacing the dusty ground as they nudged around the edges of many a tent encompassing all but a few trickles of earth.

There was a good, long silence (or relative silence) as Violet stared blankly at them, Jax's jaw dropping. And it was quite unlikely that it wasn't because of the view of the mountain.

Then their glances stared down at an equally shocked Rikki, turning as sharp and bitter like the almost tangible corruption of the many angered people clustered about had poisoned their thoughts. Staring up at her companions through a few vividly colored bangs, Rikki remained defiantly silent for a few seconds before she turned around to face them and snapped, "What?"

"You just said there'd be a camp," Jax said numbly.

"It looked smaller from above!" Rikki forced through her teeth, "It was like a bunch of little anthills. ANTHILLS, Jax."

Before Jax could say something sarcastic as he shifted Zeeg under his arm like a big, armored football, Violet took a step forward, the shuffling of the sands around her feet garnering both of the feuding Pokemons' attentions. "Boss?" Rikki asked carefully.

There was another, punctuating sound as many a grain of salty sand spilled around the squeak of Violet's sands. At first neither of them were not sure what the girl's reaction would be to the infection of impatient Trainers (Jax half expected to see men with cameras in floral shirts around, but alas, he found no such thing), especially considering her enthusiasm.

So it was a rather shocking revelation when they saw the wide, brace-encapsulated grin set on the girl's round face. "This place is freaking AWESOME!" she declared, then, almost immediately turned to the sign standing proudly beside her and wrapped her arms around it, letting a content sigh. "It's like a camp of ANTHILLS!"

"Told you," Rikki muttered out of the corner of her mouth, much to Jax's irritation. Before the Charmeleon could say much of anything else, he once more heard the sand crunching between the clawed, sable digits of Rikki's painted feet. "…Think they have Churros?" she asked to Jax eagerly, her own maw spreading wide in a toothy grin.

The temptation of asking one of the many Trainer's Nidoking to trample him was getting more and more appealing.

--

It didn't take long for Violet's good mood in finding another sign to latch onto to evaporate once they had tried to slide through the mess of pyramids and fluffy, puffy sleeping bags all the way to the mass of people and Pokemon swarming in an ocean of grumbling and muffled cursing at the head of the crest of people. Violet's heterochromatic eyes bounced from one person to another, moving toward what she thought was an opening only to be forced back by the bump of a Jynx standing beside her Trainer. Standing there in a huff as she balanced herself, face set in an uncharacteristic, pouting scowl, Violet's eyes narrowed, green and blue turning crackling flame as though she was praying to God to smite everybody with a giant lightning bolt.

God probably wouldn't have followed that, but Rikki certainly would have just for the hell of it, which made Jax quite grateful that Violet's desires had not become vocal. Jax sighed, staring over the shoulder of a diminutive Hitmonchan by just a few inches. He was as successful as his Trainer in trying to locate a path, but whenever there seemed to be some sort of beacon, a fluctuation in the scrambling men and Pokemon, it was sealed back up with a hip or an elbow or, in some cases, wings.

"No use," Jax finally admitted, stepping away from the Hitmonchan as he threw him a dirty glare of his shoulder, returned by a growl, "I think we'll have to wait until later—"

That was when Rikki intervened, chuckling darkly under her breath just loud enough in its maniacal tone to snare the attention of the two travelers. "Ah, Jax Jax Jax Jax," she said chidingly, smirking out of the corner of her mouth with an almost shark-like set of teeth and fang. "You're going about it the wrong way."

While Jax was hardly amused, Violet was. She leaned down to face the tiny rodent. "What do we do?" she questioned without a hint of reluctance in her voice.

Jax whirled around and, gesturing bitterly with Zeeg in his claw, strode toward the modest-looking Pokemon Center where a few people were slipping in, most likely in hopes of finding a place unoccupied by someone so he'd have a justified reason to burn someone to release his frustration if someone started a fight.

Ignoring the Charmeleon, Rikki's smirk grew ever wider, exposing more and more teeth. "We do this with poise and rationality," she said extravagantly, spreading her arms wide for emphasis, like she was indicating the whole bustling crowd of Pokemon.

Somewhere in front of the door to the Pokemon Center, Jax sneezed.

--

"Gang way, gang way!"

A person was sent jerking forward, nearly stumbling into another woman and her Chansey as Rikki barreled herself into their back, head first and paws sparking along the stiffening strands of fur. The person whirled around, mouth open just enough to get ready to form a complaint, but before he could do so, Rikki sent herself flying at him again, this time with enough force to shove him fully against the gelatinous body of a very angry Muk. Landing on her feet, Rikki cackled, spreading her colorized nails with glee.

Behind her, Jax managed to jump through two panicked people simultaneous to as Violet staggered through a floating Koffing and a Pidgeot. "Sorry," she said, her face flared with embarrassment as she elbowed her way to Rikki. When she had finally swung her body in front of her, barely intercepting her, she snarled through her teeth, "What the hell are you doing?"

Rikki gave a toothy glare to a thoroughly intimidated Rattatta before she looked back to Violet, innocently sticking her lower lip out with a childish quiver and a glimmer of her hazel eyes. "Solving this with poise and rationality," she said simply.

"No, you're not," Jax snarled after a quick apology to a panicked man who slipped behind him, tossing Zeeg into a safe position in his cradling arms, a clawed digit raised threateningly—and rather vulgarly—in her direction, "You're giving the world's most bastardized impression of Moses with your head and your hollow lack of brain."

Rikki folded her arms, ears tilting to one side of her head. "Hey, it's working," she shrugged, then turned her striped back to Jax, snorting as another band of electricity rolled up her clenched fist. "Just one more blast and I bet I can send these guys scatterin' like bowling pins."

There was no response.

A moment of silence later, Rikki repeated, "I SAID, 'I bet I can send these guys scatterin' like bowling pins.'"

Still nothing.

Then Violet's voice, unnerved and shaking, piped up. "…Rikki?"

The Pikachu impatiently turned around on the tips of her toes, looking rather annoyed that her acts were going ignored by her Trainer and her reluctant companion. "WHA—"

Her words were cut off with a squeak of shock that quickly turned into protest as she was swept off her feet, curving through the air as a set of strong fingers tightened on the scruff of her neck beneath her oily mess of a pony tail and hefted her upward. Feet dangling beneath her and lightning starting to form around Rikki's enraged eyes, she swung her claw at what she thought was the tip of a spiky bang.

Her body was turned around with the movement of a wrist, spinning her toward the cowering form of Violet as she stared up behind a blue cluster of bangs, and Jax's stern look of, 'what did you get yourself into this time?' If Zeeg was capable of changing his facial expression beyond the occasional blink, Rikki suspected he would have been cackling wildly.

Just as Rikki was about to demand what was going on, the answer was provided in the form of a gruff, authoritarian voice from behind her. "Kid," Rikki strained her neck around as she kicked and squirmed in mid-air, electricity shooting in intermittent little blasts up and around defensively, only for them to coil right off the rubber-clad fingers of her captor. "Is THIS your Pikachu?"

Down below, Violet's eyes moved from a peeved Rikki to an older woman standing tall and proud over the short, chubby Trainer, clad in a crisp uniform with a gleaming, golden badge in the sun, and glaring through her rigid hair, tightly tied in buns. Violet gulped, Jax's hand slapped to his forehead, and the girl could only squeak, "I think I'm in trouble."

--

"Way to go, Rikki."

The Pikachu's eyes slipped away from the girl sitting across the table, feeling their collective glares boring through her fur and managing to tug at her guilty eyes. "I'm sorry, boss…" she grumbled with shocking sincerity, rubbing awkwardly at her elbow.

Violet merely scowled in response, looking angry and depressed enough for both her Pokemon to expect to see a rain cloud materialize over her head and deposit half a gallon of water on her head. Much to Rikki's disappointment, all Violet said when she finally decided to speak was an incoherent grumble that sounded vaguely like "piss off", or, she surmised humorously, "table top." Sitting beside her, Jax's eyes stared at Rikki from the corners of his corneas.

"After that little stunt," Jax said in a tone quite like Violet's, just loud enough for his words to make sense, "We're in trouble with the police."

Letting out a low growl, Rikki leaned up from her seat, perking her tail behind her, and slammed her paws on the table. "Why can't we go in, anyway?"

Violet rolled her eyes. "They told us. It's because of Team Rocket."

_Stupid, stupid, stupid… _Violet thought, pushing her cheek further against the window with a sour pout on her face, _Great. I go to see the stupid mountain and I find out that my stupid adventure ends here because some disgusting, stupid… people._

'Disgusting' wasn't the half of it. Team Rocket, in its infamy, had always been a plague on the Pokemon world, responsible for just about every crime: brainwashing Pokemon, using them for slave labor, abusing them, stealing them, poaching… she had even heard situations about some Pokemon being killed so rare materials could be gleaned from their hides. Shuddering from this and furrowing her eyebrows, Violet snorted and turned over, still keeping Zeeg close to her. She remembered listening to a recount of one of their crime's on the news as a youngster, and ended up leaving the room, clinging to her Charmander plush doll.

Their latest exploits had brought them to the depths of Mount Moon, where nocturnal and chthonic Pokemon alike lurked, and the luminescent crystals outside were most plentiful within. The police had been called to usher Trainers away from it so that way they wouldn't endanger themselves, seeing as Team Rocket was often highly unmerciful and had no discriminations to who they robbed of their beloved Pokemon.

Jax and Rikki could plainly see the disappointment behind her eyes, and they immediately knew why. Violet had been so enthusiastic about this trip to Mount Moon, and it had been spoiled rather spectacularly. Worst of all, there was nothing she could do about it.

Rikki moaned and dropped back onto her rear, slamming the back of her head against the cushion of the seat. The Pokemon Center they were in may have not been large enough to accommodate the great amount of people outside, but it was generous enough to allow them to relax in the tables that hadn't been claimed. "What're THEY doing in there, anyway?"

Neither Jax or Violet were sure about the answer as they both took a well-timed sip from their cups of water. Violet was the first to remove the plastic edge from her mouth, and wiped her mouth free of clinging moisture. "No idea. They just said they're in there, and we can't go in." The bottom of her cup slammed against the table, water sloshing around tumultuously against the plastic, just before Violet's forehead followed. She didn't even bother to steady her precariously slouching hat when she sibilated a bitter, "Stupid cops…"

Jax looked just as frustrated as he looked outside the window, watching the sun start to disappear behind the swirls and loops of misty lavender from behind the jagged formations of rock and crystal clustering around the trees. "Let's just go to bed…" he said, getting up and scooping Zeeg from behind him, "We'll figure out what to do tomorrow."

But despite that word, Violet only gazed solemnly as she perched her head on her chin, bangs drooping askew around her head like pointed, tiny quills. "…Stupid." Then her face tipped over and pressed against the table's top.

"We heard you the first time, Violet," Jax's voice said from somewhere outside.

--

The moon hung over the sky, white light shining around it like a pearly, glowing halo. It was at night that Mount Moon was most beautiful, most alive with shimmering glory, but rather than appreciating it, Violet had merely stalked out of the Pokemon Center, grabbed a blanket from the ones provided, and cocooned herself beside the sleeping figures of her Pokemon.

No matter how many times her eyes closed, they barely opened again by a centimeter, hair brushing past her navy eyelashes like a curtain of disheveled teal. Whenever they opened, it seemed like a silhouette, armed with a flashlight or followed loyally by an Arcanine passed as another entered the caves with PokeBalls and Growlithes at their sides. Snorting irritably, she pulled the covers over her head and tugged Zeeg closer to her.

Oddly enough, venting in her head was working better at making her falling asleep than hearing Jax snore gently or listening to people murmur amongst themselves. In no time, she felt the black swoop in on her, the darkness thicken and blacken like ink in the skies, and her eyes closed atop the vague contours of the bruise-colored rings underlining her lids.

It didn't last long before she felt the thick shell her cheek rested against start to slide out of her grip. Fingers stiffened, grasping and pawing at the retreating mass as it, cloaked in the darkness behind her eyelids, moved with dream like smoothness out of her reach as her fingernails raked soundlessly along the armored Pokemon. Despite that, this disturbance barely lasted for a second before her head hit the pillow again with a snore that sounded more like something that came from a motherless beached whale.

The figure standing over her carefully turned the Kakuna over in its arms, large eyes blinking carefully as they examined her breathing patterns for any irregularities. Anything that would indicate any awakening. It found nothing, and, with a triumphant smile, it turned away and started to tiptoe away on its clawed feet.

That was until Violet jerked violently in her bed and let out a roaring sneeze that froze it dead in its tracks.

Sniffling and rubbing at her nose with the back of her speckled right hand, the covers tumbled off of Violet's front and toppled onto her lap, her left hand brushing through her blue hair. "Wow," she muttered huskily, removing her wrist from her nostrils, "Am I gettin' sick—"

Both figures stared at each other as the sleep in Violet's eyes drifted away, leaving wavering clarity trembling around the outlines of the blackened figure. It was too dark for Violet to make out the stout, husky little thing—she could tell it wasn't human. It couldn't have been. But while she couldn't identify it, she COULD make out what was in its arms.

"ZEEG!"

And then that set off the apocalypse. The figure wisely chose that moment to run for its life, leaping over the sleeping, mountainous form of a Dugtrio, its three heads slumped in stasis. "HEY!" Violet shouted as loudly as she could, her eyes widening in panic and her jaw freezing, taut and teeth clenched. Before the figure had leapt over the mole Pokemon, she was off in a jumble of blankets that went flying, nearly tripping Violet as her ankle got intertwined within the corner of one. It took one harsh kick to free herself, then she was off with another shout.

Not surprisingly, many of the people started to awaken from the noise and the disorder as both girl and figure raced through the people, jumping over people and darting throughout them like a rat in an experimental maze, like it were just a obstacle course. Unfortunately, Violet's physical prowess was nowhere near as refined as her quarry's, so her pursuit was interrupted by tripping, accidentally kicking, and even once falling on top of some of the sleeping figure. Pandemonium broke out within a few minutes, grumbles, shouts, and discontent murmurings piercing the night air.

In the back of the group, Jax had already leapt out from his makeshift bed and stood tall, Rikki staggering to her feet and trying to shake the lethargy out of her head. "What the hell—" he started, then noticed out of the corner of his eye that Violet's sleeping bag was vacant.

"Oh—" Jax started, his eyes darting back over to the silhouette of the girl nearly stumbling over a man and his Electrode, and the unknown creature rocketing briefly into the air before it dipped gracefully back to the ground.

Rikki finished his sentence for him in a low, disbelieving hiss as the blue light of the many crystals throbbed, illuminating blue hair and a curled tail before they had dashed around the corner and past some jagged rocks. "Shit."

Just as Violet vanished on the curb, Jax could see the gleaming cores of flashlights appear, cutting through the blue spilling along the curves and points of the mountain and those few who had chosen to rest beside the crystals. Some part of Jax was somewhat shocked about the police's use of flashlights when they were patrolling a mountain that was literally its own lantern in the dark. Then he just realized how much trouble Violet was going to be in.

"CRAP!" He shouted, grabbing Rikki by the rather abused scruff of her neck and tucking the discontent Pikachu under his arm, dashing off after them. "HEY—" Rikki started, but Jax was quite obviously ignoring her when he swiftly sidestepped the lurching body of a human who barely had time to glare at them before Jax just muttered a hardly very genuine 'sorry' and had already made it to the middle of the line.

Jax was just slightly more successful than Violet in his chase, but where he could avoid tripping over and incurring the wrath of people and Pokemon, barreling past the people who had gotten up to bicker and snap amongst themselves took a lot more effort. Most people, however, weren't going to trifle with a 5-foot tall Charmeleon and a rabid, half-sedated Pikachu who went zooming at them, and just got out of the way.

Jax caught up to Violet in record time, even though the girl's speed had been more than difficult to track. They had made it around the side of the mountain when suddenly, Violet skidded to a halt, dust and pebbles piling up beneath her toes, and when her neck snapped to the side, the black figure carrying Zeeg had leapt up and, like a bullet, had siphoned itself across the sky and disappeared through a pocket-like cave over a few protruding sapphires.

"ZEEG!" Violet shouted again, the girl's face completely shellshocked, her hands clenched at her sides. Cold, steamy puffs of air floated from her mouth as her chest heaved in and out, limbs tensed and the plump muscles stretched like rubber bands. Her eyes remained solidly where the kidnapper had escaped, narrowing and the pupils dilating within the halos of green and blue.

Jax would have actually felt sympathetic for her if he hadn't noticed one of the bulky shadows of a police's Pokemon guard hound starting to march around the corner, several of its brethren following, and had panicked. Cursing rapidly in his head, he ran over to Violet, who was too aghast to even move or pull her eyes away, and, grabbing her by the hood of her sweatshirt, dragged the startled girl into some bushes. Rikki leapt from his arms and dove inside the foliage, Jax yanking a squirming, struggling Violet behind a tree, and forcing both of them into a crouch.

It took both Jax to lean against Violet, and Rikki to sit on her to get the message through that she should stay still, but it took the sound of heavy footprints and a cold nose sniffing the earth that completely nailed the idea that they would be in trouble if they didn't cooperate. So, as they flattened themselves to the ground and remained completely still under the leaves and twigs, as well as keeping themselves as utterly quiet as humanly possible, the footsteps stopped with the crunching of many, miniscule pebbles. The sniffing however, didn't stop, and it didn't stop for a good few minutes. By that point, Jax was hoping desperately that his tail flame, which he was doing his best to smother without setting anything on fire or extinguishing it altogether, wouldn't give him away, and that they were doing a good job impersonating a pile of aging pieces of giant splinters.

Violet could see the Pokemon's lower body, consisting of four muscular, amber-furred pawed legs. A nose touched the ground, sniffling and nudging curiously at a larger rock. It rolled just a few centimeters, exposing trampled earth. Jax would have snarled in distaste if he weren't keeping his maw clamped shut beneath the roots he had become tangled in. Damn police dogs had an inherent sense of smell that was almost mind-boggling in its accuracy. They didn't stand a chance, no matter how many layers of dirt they covered themselves in.

In the end, it didn't matter. With a grunt, it turned its head around and craned its neck in the direction of a voice, another police officer, "Rex, get over here! We have a big problem!" The canine creature—Rex, apparently—didn't even spend a moment being conflicted with its two assignments before it turned away and trudged off.

Five minutes passed in very tense silence.

The silence was broken by a very unwelcome cricket, which seemed to split the silence wide open like curtains to welcome speech from the three adventurers. With a collective shuffle, all three sat upright, shaking off the vegetation and soil smearing their fur, skin, and clothes.

The first thing Jax did was glare at Violet and nudge her harshly with a jab of his knuckle as he forced his tail free from some vines and draped it over a safe perch. "What the HELL did you think you were doing!" he demanded.

Rikki butted in before the defiant-looking Violet could respond as she plucked a few leaves from her variegated, poorly groomed hair. "Yeah, what the crap, boss!" she exclaimed, too openly appalled to supervise her voice to a reasonable level, "You give me this bull about getting everyone in trouble yesterday and LOOK WHAT YOU DO!" She snorted, blowing a few strands of hair out of her scowling face. "Hypocrite."

In the face of her Pokemons' scorn, Violet merely ground her teeth and crossed her arms like a petulant child, not even bothering to clean herself further after that. "It's ZEEG," she said, waving her arms, "He got—" she stopped to make way for a dramatic choking sound, followed by a few sobs to fill in the silence as her resolve peeled away and she searched through her vocabulary for an appropriate term. Finally, she spouted, "—KAKUNA-NAPPED!"

Jax backtracked mentally as he watched the girl blubber and weep at the apparent loss of her adored Pokemon. He hadn't seen Zeeg in Violet's discarded sleeping bag, nor had he seen him anywhere else. That much he could tell when he was in a hurry—and he DID recall seeing the thing fleeing from Violet holding something that looked VERY Zeeg-shaped.

Then it hit him, and he looked over to where he had seen the creature disappear, up in the tiny cavern. It was far too high for any person to reach without a Pokemon with wings, or considerable climbing abilities, and much too small for just about almost anything to get through.

A very uncomfortable-looking Rikki approached Violet gingerly and patted her on the arm, just about the only comforting thing she was capable of doing without looking like every person she knew in Viridian Forest was watching her and laughing. "Uh, don't worry, boss," she said awkwardly, trying not to cringe or glance off into the trees, "He'll be okay, right Jax?"

Jax didn't say anything.

Violet took this moment as an opportunity to continue her rambling as she seized the Pikachu by her thin shoulders and started shaking her wildly. "Nonono, you don't understand. You don't understand at all," she insisted, then, her eyes widened and she released Rikki's shoulders so she could turn her nails into a chew toy. "Oh God. Can you imagine what they must be doing to him, Rikki?"

"Uh…"

Violet continued anyway despite the fact there was no real response, "Oh my GOD, they could be torturing him!" she gasped, covering her mouth in wide-eyed shock. "TORTURING HIM! And he's so sensitive, too! He won't last five minutes!"

"Well…"

Violet gasped again, this time much louder, and her ginger-skinned face drained of color. "Think of the PAIN he must be going through, Rikki!" Her voice became increasingly frantic as she exploded with, "_WHAT IF THEY USE THE PEAR ON HIM_!"

Rikki's discomfort gave way to complete and utter confusion. She immediately turned to Jax, who had stopped looking out and around the mountain for guards to look just as puzzled as she did. "What the hell's 'The Pear'?" Rikki asked, even though for some reason her stomach was starting to turn cold as it slipped down her belly like a frigid stone.

"I have no idea," said Jax numbly, who wasn't really sure he wanted to know.

Instead they both shrugged to each other, and decided it was best left anonymous. The rustling of leaves and the crunching of dried foliage and twigs roused their attentions, both Pokemon turning around just to see a very pale, very dirty Violet tromp out of the undergrowth and back into the blue moonlight of the jagged maw of crystals, settled within slabs of stone and diamond..

Her foot barely made it over the first hedge before she was grabbed by her arms and pulled mightily back by Jax, who then snapped, "What the hell are you doing?" Violet yelped as she tumbled onto the ground, the leaves and twigs crunching beneath her body. Eyes rolling back into focus, Violet lifted herself up onto her feet once again, and yanked another bur out of her boyish hair before she was grasped again.

Violet didn't respond immediately: instead she just lashed and tried every method available to tug her way out of Jax's clawed grip. "Lemme go!" she shouted, then, as Jax shot her a very nasty glare, she dropped her voice to a whisper like the rest of them, "I need to get inside."

"So you could do WHAT?" Jax demanded, still retaining his grip, which Violet noted was a lot stronger than she would've expected from the lanky Charmeleon.

Violet rolled her eyes like the answer was tattooed all over her face, then said smartly, "So I can go rescue Zeeg," she would have folded her arms if she weren't renewing her wild efforts to bat and slap at Jax's hands and kicking out at a few branches (she only succeeded in snapping a few in two).

Both Pokemon started staring at her like she had sprouted an extra eye. This time, Rikki spoke up, her eyebrow peaked to the top of her head, where it was lost in the tangled forest of matted bangs and fur. "Boss," she began carefully, "I really hate to say this, I really do, but _are you totally out of your flipping mind?"_

Finally, Violet had gathered enough energy to break out of Jax's grip with a flurry of arms and legs, nearly falling on top of the roots of a looming tree. Thankfully managing to use her wildly rotating arms to balance herself back on her feet, she leapt out of the patch before either Pokemon could stop her and landed on the cobblestones, scowling defiantly.

"What, you expect me to just LEAVE HIM IN THERE?" she asked spitefully to the two of them as they exchanged worried glances. She resumed her tirade, managing to keep her voice down with a rather admirable effort. "AFTER ALL WE'VE BEEN THROUGH!"

Jax broke the silence between the Pokemon with a sardonic glance and a disbelieving eye and tongue. "Violet, we've only known him for about a week," he reminded her.

Violet didn't seem to hear him, because her anger had been erased to undaunted determination, her finger pointed in the air. "Like I said!" she said, "We need to go rescue him!"

Rikki and Jax looked at each other one last time before Jax turned back around to face Violet, still weaving his tail's streaming flame in inconspicuous, inflammable places. "Violet, for the first time I sympathize with you. But we can't go in with the police walking around. We could get in serious trouble," he explained, holding up his claws defensively as he predicted a furious outburst from the hellbent girl. "Unless we figure out something, we're stuck."

The blue-haired girl had nothing to say in response, instead letting her eyes sink back down to the lumpy, rocky earth and her fingers fidget together. The remnants of her bitter, pouting glare started to warp away from the round curves of her speckled face into awkward cluelessness. She was undeniably, despite her resolve before, defeated, and she couldn't admit it.

Then, her eyes rose back up, meeting Jax's sea green orbs. "Well, what do YOU think?" she asked quietly.

The air around Jax seemed to freeze altogether around the utterly silent Charizard like the atmosphere encapsulating him had turned to stone. A dumbstruck expression slapped on his face, Jax managed to scoop his jaw off of the floor and figuratively reattach it so he could ask, "Wait, what?"

Violet peeked back over her shoulder, tilting her head around the corner. No sign of police officers—they all seemed to be distracted by the so-called "emergency" they had, whatever it was. Either way, she could barely make out the eldritch, faint orange glow of a few Fire Pokemon, most of the red drowned out by blue. With that inspection complete, she turned back toward Jax and raised her hands. "What, why do you seem so shocked?" she asked innocently, garnering Rikki's complete shock as well, "It's like I said on our way here. You're smart, right?"

They stayed locked in silence, the wind's throaty howls going mute and the gentle throbbing of the light issuing from the many crystals and mirroresque stones around them going as dark as the sky.

It was almost like the only source of light in the petrified twilight zone the world had become was the slowly growing streak of burning red flickering over Jax's crimson cheeks. His mouth started to open, like something was on his lips, but his mouth clamped shut, eyes still wide, until the Charmeleon finally breaking out into an awkward, but obviously flattered grin. "What, really?" he asked, chuckling under his breath.

Violet nodded, a look of utter, genuine confirmation on her suddenly cheerful face. Rikki seemed about ready to keel over from complete awe. Jax didn't notice her at all, because, as his blush intensified, he continued, "Well, I mean… thanks and…" he stumbled for words as he stifled another chuckle and folded his arm behind his head. "Well… I mean, if you really want to try and get inside…"

He paused for a moment so he could bite off another small laugh, then, as he cleared his throat, he managed to school his features into something remotely serious. His eyes astutely examined the area around for some sort of inspiration, craning his head to every available direction and his eyes darting to and fro. At last they settled on Rikki, who had turned away to start twisting and yanking some of the toothpicks and twigs in her mangy fur. A smirk forming on the corner of his mouth and his teeth glistening in the moonlight like ivory peaks, he looked back to Violet and folded his arms triumphantly.

"You could try disguising yourself or something," he said absently, waving his hand, "If we stay in the hedges we shou—"

That was when he saw Violet's mouth had also smoothly curved into a smirk far more prouder than Jax, her cheeks puffing slightly as she started openly restraining the peals of chortles that threatened to spill out of her mouth.

Jax's jaw dropped all over again. It hit him like a cannonball: Violet had tricked him. The smile disappeared and his lips curled back in a vicious snarl, his teeth clenching together in a tight embrace. "Oh you little son of a—"

--

**Two Minutes Later…**

A low crunch, the faint crackling of flame as wispy banners of smoking manes trailed behind the monstrous, bulking form. A sharp pair of eyes glared around the area, its eyes nearly dilating against the glow of the crystals. Paws grinding against the cobblestones pooling around its ankles, it skidded to a halt mid-march, head lifting and nose turning upward.

A smell drifted over the coattails of the wind, something unfamiliarly earthy—too strong and soiled to merely be the nearby plantlife. Grunting, the Arcanine's ears flickered and swiveled in their sockets, pointing from direction to direction.

A snap.

The Arcanine let out a suppressed, muffled growl between its teeth as it turned toward the offending, wobbling tree. Leaves fluttered to the ground, and a miffed Pidgey abandoned its nest in a flurry of wings, but there was nothing suspicious. Giving the tree one last glance, the Arcanine's muzzle wrinkled distastefully before its head snapped back to the path ahead, and it trotted merrily away as several foliage-clad figures shuffled along—one grinning evilly as she plowed her way to a missing Pokemon, one skittering right at the head, and the one behind them desperately wishing for a meteorite to rain down from the sky and crush him.

**Chapter IX: Completed…**

----

**Author's Note: **S'about time this was finished.

Now, as for what "The Pear" is… you really, REALLY don't want to know. A bit of gross obscure 'humor' on my part, feel free to lynch me if you end up finding out what it is and fall out of your seat from shock. Really. I deserve it. I'm not kidding.

But like I said… chapter X'll be filled with all kinds of stuff: New characters, action, bad jokes, and villains villains villains. I've been waiting for this chapter—it's finally where Team Rocket shows its face.


	10. Great and Powerful Warriors, Our Foot

**Disclaimer: **The Pokemon universe and Rory still don't belong to me—only Violet and the gang. Rory belongs to Alan G. Zendra (aka Agz), and the Pokemon belong to the brilliant minds at Nintendo. God bless thee, Nintendo. I should make a First Church of Nintendo, unless somebody else has made it. I'll just sell holy water, then.

**Author's Note: **CHAAAAAAAPTER X! Read away, and if you feel like it possibly weep. I certainly would.

Wooo exciting. Also, what I was trying to achieve in the last chapter seems to have come true. Bigfoot seems to like the chapter more than Chapter Eight, which is absolutely fantastic! I also thank him for pointing out that typo. I keep mixing those up.

Warning. This is a big one… please bear with me, it has a fight scene, darnit! XO Sorry, guys.

And say hello to new reviewer Cesudo! Thanks for reviewing my humble fic, and I'm glad I inspired you in some marginal way--if you get around to writing that fic, be sure to tell me, okay? I'd be happy to read.

**Chapter X: **Great and Powerful Warriors, Our Foot

--

"_Every hero becomes a bore at last."_ **–Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)**

"Come ON. Push it OVER."

"I'm TRYING, shut up."

A spray of dust spilled along the ground as a rocky surface rolled but an inch along the rocks and rubble littering there like crumpled soda cans.

"…THAT'S it?"

"Shut up, we're getting SOMEWHERE."

The scuffle was abruptly cut off with an exasperated sigh distinctly coming from a male mouth. "Oh for the love of GOD." Another sigh heralded the shuffling of feet, and then as a set of claws started to push and strain against the obstacle.

The rock trembled and slowly moved a few more inches, decimating a clutter of more pebbles as it was pushed along, growing ever faster as it picked up momentum. It scraped along the ground with a crunch of several unfortunate stones, translucent spades of cerulean light trickling beneath the inch-tall crevice and running over the bumps. With another twitch the inch became a foot, and many more as it spun away, opening the way before them with a dramatic flash of blue.

Dusting her hands off, Violet grinned triumphantly as the giant, disc-like stone that once obstructed their way collapsed beside them, throwing up a haze of dust. "We're IN," she cheered, slipping off her leaf-covered helmet and discarding it behind her.

"No thanks to you," Rikki grumbled, shaking her body free of leaves with a twitch of her tail and a trembling roll of her fuzzy shoulders. Behind her, Jax said nothing, but his grouchy expression was a testament to his unspoken agreement.

Violet looked behind them with a minimal raise of her eyebrow, lacking the flexibility of Jax's own eyebrows and only managing a centimeter. "Oh come on, guys," she said, trudging ahead as she peeled off pieces of her crude disguise until her brightly-colored attire was fully revealed. "We actually got IN."

She stared down the long, cavernous throat of the mountain, sparsely illuminated in curving arcs of blue from the stout, pyramid-shaped gemstones embedded in the dirt like bejeweled army tents. She could see it, as one green eye and one blue eye settled on the light right at the end of it like a faraway spotlight. "We've got past the hard part," she continued to unsuccessfully encourage them, "It's smooth sailing from here."

Rikki's ear twitched as she seized a rather large chunk of wood from the shaggy fur and twisted it out, taking a tuft of marred yellow with it without so much as a squeak. Flicking it away idly, she shrugged. "Hey, maybe the boss is right," Rikki said to Jax, nudging his lower leg with her elbow, "After all, what could possibly go wrong? The sky rains rocks?" She waved her hands with overemphasized, exaggerated drama, as though imitating an omnipotent being.

Her answer was heralded with a loud, thunderous thud which made the whole cave quiver. Three heads turned over the shoulders, three pairs of eyes widened, and three mouths opened wide in gasping yells as the obsidian black stalactites dangling above began to shake and vibrate like jostling wind chimes. Hailstorms of dust and flakes of pebbles rained from above as cracks rend the air, stone splitting and a great rumble shaking the roof.

Whatever any of them was going to say was drowned out in Violet's panicked scream of "RUN!" and the shrieking thought that she was dashing ahead before them.

And although it was unlikely any of them would ever listen to her after this, they were in no position to argue as turned tail and shamelessly dashed their way out of the collapsing bed of stalactites' range with the falling rocks at their heels.

--

**One Chase Scene Later…**

In the hollow cavern annex, the sound of panting and heaving echoed against the crystalline walls. Slumping and pressing her back against the incandescent blue, Violet's chest inflated with a shuddering sigh, then another rolled out of her mouth as she quickly collapsed in a breathless heap.

Rikki was in a similar condition, besides spontaneously sparking out of nervousness and her head jerking to and fro as she peered around every available corner as though to prevent being ambushed by a plummeting rock-icicle. Jax wasn't sure he blamed her very much as he leaned against the wall, wiping perspiration off of his hot skin.

They remained locked in this state, not communicating with each other, but among two of them, one thought could be shared.

For whatever reason, they decided to blame whatever had happened on Rikki.

Then again, there was that, and that they could safely acknowledge that she could easily participate in any marathon when she had outrun them and nearly stranded them in front of the avalanche of stalactites.

The silence was broken rather predictably by Jax, having regained his breath before anyone else could for the sake of saying a snide comment. "We're off to a lovely start, aren't we?" he asked derisively, pushing himself off the wall and arching his back experimentally, a low crack emitting from his abused spine as it was snapped into place.

Rikki, who managed to curb her out of control electrical powers, stared at Violet. "Listen, boss, if this is some kind of sick and twisted karma for what I did back in th' Forest," she waved her paws frantically, and snapped, "I thought I'd repented or some crap! Is somebody up there horribly jealous of my good looks, or do they just hate me!"

"I think it's more likely the last one," Jax couldn't help but say, before returning to the more important task of drying his forehead and catching his breath.

"HEY!" Violet retorted, getting to her feet with the help of using a horizontally-jutting crystal as leverage, "Knock it off. We can always yell at Rikki later," she said pleasantly, much to a superstition-stricken Rikki's dismay. "We got out alive, that's the good thing. And unless someone pisses off the Big Guy or Rikki says something else, NOTHING bad will hap—"

Then there was a sharp whizzing in the air, like the whistle of a terribly obnoxious bird or the straining of an elastic band, and a pebble thwacked Violet in the back of her head.

Rikki blinked.

Jax blinked.

Violet blinked. Then she rubbed the back of her head. "Oh," she noted, looking up at the ceiling with mind-bogglingly, puzzled calmness. "I take that back. Is the sky falling again?"

Rikki let out a loud cry of "I DIDN'T DO IT" and took cover behind Jax's tail as the Charmeleon joined Violet in glancing around the cave. Nothing suspicious was in sight, or the telltale roar of the snapping of the stalactites above like brittle toothpicks.

Violet reported her findings with a shrug and retracted her hand from rubbing the slightly sore spot on the nape of her neck. "Huh. Must've been—" then, with the same irritating whizzing noise, yet another, larger rock hit her in the cheek, dangerously close to her eye. Wincing and turning about, the look of confusion returning on her face, this time with a hint of frustration, Violet's eyes shot to the side where the rock had presumably come from.

Rikki blinked.

Jax blinked.

And Violet's eye was twitching far too much reflexively to blink.

"Alright," she started, still hunting for another attacking rock, "This isn't funny," she immediately turned to Jax, and, scowling disapprovingly, pointed to the abashed Charmeleon. "Jax, quit being an immature jerkface and quit it."

Jax's head raised up to her level, his face indignant and his mouth stretched to the edge of his jaw in an aghast glower. "ME?" he gawked, "I didn't do ANYTHING."

Violet raised her fist, shaking it at Jax with a look of equal indignation on her chubbier face. "Then WHO WAS IT—"

And out of nowhere, there was a shrill, piercing shriek, warbling in the cold air like it were carried on the edges of a shockwave, and a streaking blur of azure as it spiraled down from out of nowhere and barreled right into the back of Violet's head.

As a completely frozen Violet collided on the ground, the blue blur took another sharp turn and darted back up in the air, just as a hastily-fired shot of Ember scraped by its heels. Jax cursed violently as the faint wisps of smoke disintegrated in the air along with the miniscule fireball, and as Rikki started to start jumping back and forth, looking for the assailant and barking threats at the air.

Once more it curved in on itself and it rocketed up into the air, wings spread out on either side of its nimble body, and, with a flap, froze.

Keeping itself in a steady hover thanks to the speedy flapping of its wings, the blur faded and its form became solid as eyes settled on it. Its tiny body was sleek and its fur a light navy, bushy, drooping tufts of headfur hanging before its petite face. There was no arms or legs to speak of, just the wings that kept the creature consistently aloft, and the vaguely coattail-esque tails branching from its rear. Enormous, broad ears perked, it glared down at the peeved looking group, and spread its wings triumphantly in the air, displaying the purple webbing such as the violet flesh of its wings.

Somehow, despite its tiny frame, it remained in mid-air despite the fact a distinctly, y-shaped object was secured to its back.

As Rikki had pulled herself out of her instantaneous-bodyguard mode to kneel near Violet and try to knock her out of a frighteningly delusional state (Violet's declarations about her being the President's pet goat were unnerving at best), Jax could only lift an eyebrow and peer at the Pokemon—a Zubat, he knew. An aggressive one—he had never heard of situations like this ever occurring.

'_What. The. HELL?' _was the only thing that came to mind as a single twitch wrung on the edge of Jax's left eye.

And what came next would only invite the same.

"ROCKET SCUM!" it boomed from the little Zubat's mouth in a volume rather shocking for what Jax suspected to be her lung size, "BEHOLD! I have SINGLE-HANDEDLY—"

Rikki looked up from Violet, her ears tilted quizzically. "Hey, wai—" she started, but she was curtly interrupted as the Zubat rudely verbally plowed ahead right where she was.

"—DISPOSED OF YOUR LEADER."

"Actually, she's not really our leader," Jax notified the Zubat, lifting a finger for emphasis, as though to garner its attention. "She's—"

She just kept going, completely ignoring the two Pokemon—Jax started to get rather annoyed by this, as every effort to interrupt the talkative Zubat was flattened with a dramatic exclamation. The Zubat's wings began slowing down as she settled onto a rock protruding from the ground, raising her wings around, like she were gesturing to the darkness around it.

"BEWARE!" she burst out, "FOR AROUND US LURKS A VICIOUS RABID, RAVENOUS MONSTER, OUT FOR YOUR BLOOD—that is, IF YOU DO NOT _LEAVE NOW._"

Rikki just stared at her with a blankly unreadable look on her face. Jax's eyes moved back and forth, examining the pitch black and the sections of darkness brightened by the glowing, crystal formations suspended around the walls, rocks, and roof in varying shades of oscillating blue. "…Uh…" Jax raised an eyebrow.

The Zubat remained stiff and confident, even when Rikki brought up, "I don't see any—"

That was when Violet sat abruptly upright, her eyes wide and her hair a disheveled bird's nest. "WHAT!" she exclaimed, shocked. "Really!"

Jax turned his head over his shoulder so he could look at the startled pre-teen. With a look of 'Oh my GOD, you can't be serious' on his draconic face, he blurted out, "Oh come ON," he said, pointing to the offending Zubat, "She's LYING. You'd have to either be completely or totally daft and-or blind to fall fo--"

The Zubat in question's ears drooped on either side of its head, looking as expressionately defeated as possible without a pair of eyes to assist it. "ACK," she cursed, slapping her head with her wing, "It didn't work."

Rikki's eye and mouth twitched, an eyebrow rising over one of her hazel-spun eyes, outlined in spiraled stripes of fluorescent. "You kiddin'?" she asked in total disbelief.

"I spent an hour trying to come up with that idea," the Zubat complained, head lowering.

"Wow," Jax said unenthusiastically, "What a great accomplishment."

"I still think it was convincing," Violet muttered, looking slightly embarrassed and even more disheveled than normal as she kicked awkwardly at a little pebble.

Whatever conversation that had potential to stem from the next second was thoroughly extinguished when a man's voice spoke from somewhere around a nearby rock wall. All mouths clamped shut and the bodies moved together instinctually, a mixed group of expressions perked on their faces as it grumbled, "I swear to God, I thought I heard someone around there."

"Oh CRAP," the Zubat said hoarsely, hiding her mouth with her wings, "It's THEM—"

Violet frowned, edging toward the rock wall. "Huh?" There was something about that voice she didn't like, and as she heard the footsteps crunching against the rocky floor, she felt something in her body tighten and tense itself into a coiled knot around her stomach.

"You gotta be hearing things. Nobody's here." Another voice, slightly gruffer than the last, and likely the owner of the second set of footsteps crunching in unorganized sync with the others.

A spade of light flickered around the corner, growing and shaping into a beacon as it approached and the footsteps became ever louder, Violet stopping in a sharp halt just before a black-clad form turned and faced her. Flashlight in hand, his eyes darted down from beneath the visor of his sable cap. Behind him, the glow of another flashlight appeared and hovered into view, a taller, broader man glaring over the head of his partner.

"What the hell?" the first man asked, lowering his flashlight into Violet's face, as she winced and blinked owlishly and lifed a hand to her face in a rather poor attempt to shield herself from the caustic light. "What's this kid doing here?"

The Zubat let out a horrified yell (which sounded more like a mousy squeak) and zoomed off of her perch, flapping frantically enough to speed right across the sky and behind Jax's head. "THOSE ARE THEM!" she squeaked, sinking lower to the small of Jax's back, where she was thoroughly concealed, "Those are Team Rocket! TEAM ROCKET!" she repeated in a breathless outburst before she poked her upperbody out beside Jax's thigh and pointed to them, "THOSE are their cronies!"

All eyes centered on the two figures as their own eyes, briefly combed the group of Pokemon clustered behind Violet, who were all looking at the pair with suspicious curiosity. Curiosity that was starting to become less startled and more like glowering, smoldering shock as they discovered what was right before their eyes.

Large, crimson 'R's were emblazoned on the fronts of their uniforms and the caps' crowns in smaller variations, no doubt pronouncing one word. "It IS them!" Violet ejaculated, lifting her own finger and aligning it almost accusingly with one of the hateful 'R's on their chests. "You're the guys who've caused all this trouble!"

The tallest of the men growled and grit his teeth, his hand settling on a black, highly customized PokeBall hanging on his belt, held between a mechanical clamp. "Kid, whatever we're doing here is NONE of your business," he snapped, quickly opening the clamp with a carefully targeted tap and freeing the PokeBall into the gloved palm of his hand, "If you know what's good for you, get the hell out and forget you were ever here."

"Hey," the person behind him said, nudging at his shoulder slightly, "She's just a kid. We can't kill a ki—"

"I know, I know," his partner said hastily in a low hiss, "Doesn't mean we can't knock her out.

The Zubat, who had withdrew back behind Jax, gathered up her courage to peek at them again. Her face was exposed for just a second until she seemingly noticed their PokeBalls, and, as her ears lowered past the joints' sockets to the point they were perfectly vertical droops. This time she didn't say anything—she just flew for her life, barely a daze of color as she weaved behind a rock and remained hidden.

"Make me," Violet said, pointing to them defiantly. Her eyebrows knitted angrily together over her overshadowed eyes and the shadows of her tangled bangs, her lip curling.

Both of the men were hardly amused, one looking just miffed, while the other was utterly pissed. The second one quickly armed himself with the other PokeBall, both pressing the buttons and simultaneously inflating them to their whole sizes. Within the dark glass of the ball Violet could see the silhouettes of their PokeMon, and the red 'R's scrawled there.

"Fine," the first one said in a frustrated bark, "We warned you."

Leather-encased hands lifted, the PokeBalls to their full size, and their thumbs resting on the buttons. A judicious snap spread red light along the hollow, shallow crevice between the two halves of the ball like a passing bullet, another one crackling in the air as they were thrown. Both opened with a pair of flashes as they froze a few feet from the ground and grinded to a shuddering halt. White light spilled from the centers of the balls, glowing and retreating just as quickly as they had transported the two Pokemon within into the world of the tangible.

The light faded and the two beasts reared up: one was a spherical, metal creature, floating off the ground, flanked by two magnets on either side of its body, and with only a single eye in the center of its body as a passable face. Sparks sizzled around the wavering inches of air around it for a split second before it let out a rasping, metallic wail.

Opposite from it was a vulpine beast, rather unassuming thanks to its big, shining brown eyes and its tiny stature. Red of fur and standing on all fours, between its pointed ears was a curl of orange, much like the stubby sextet of fiery orange tails in contrast to its red pelt.

The pair, of course, had one thing on common with their Trainers, and that was that on the back of the Vulpix's left frontal paw and on the sleek surface of the Magnemite, red 'R's identical to the ones on therir Trainers' attires stood prominent on their bodies, spiteful marks of possession.

The two Pokemon glared in unison with their Trainers, the Vulpix letting out a growl between its sharp teeth, and the Magnemite emitting another buzz. Jax's eyes narrowed and went from Pokemon to Pokemon, Rikki's fur charging and erecting with fueling static. Behind Jax, Violet took a cautionary step back, and, with each inch that she moved, she joined Jax in sizing up their adversaries—one green eye settled on the Magnemite, the blue on the Vulpix.

"Jax," she said, pointing to the Magnemite, "Take care of him. Hit him with all the fire attacks you have. Rikki," she looked to the Pikachu as she arched her back and hissed, pounding her fist into her open palm with a flash of lightning, "Hit the Vulpix--" then she quickly added, "And we need to be fast, because we're in deep crap if more of these guys come here and surround us."

Their glances were short, but they got the message with the quirk of their ears. Rikki was the first to attack, dropping to all fours and darting forward, tiny bursts of sizzling lightning marking her trail. "Bring it, foxy!"

_Oh God oh God please don't make this turn out to be the stupidest thing I've ever done ever ever ever please ever._ the girl chanted repeatedly, tightening the hold of her two fingers ever more, to the point she felt the joints and knuckles pale. _Really, if you let me win this thing, I'll do anything. Anything. I'll build you a shrine, trust me, I know I can build it, I learned how to do it in school. That is if you don't mind it being made of popsicle sticks and chewing gum…_

Rikki went head-first into the Vulpix's side, her hair rippling behind her and her ears lay flat. The Vulpix reared up on its hind legs and tried to twist around to intercept Rikki, but a quickfire shot of Thundershock struck it in the shoulder. Squealing in pain, it thrashed around until it managed to steady itself and glared down with ferocity that was unusual for such a diminutive, adorable creature. Rikki leapt back and landed on her heels, fists clenched and her body still bristling all over by every hair.

"Aww, whassa matter?" Rikki taunted her, jabbing once in the air with a fist so sleek her arm moved like liquid mercury, "Gettin' mad, puppy?"

It was, because one split second next, a fireball went soaring toward her and was just barely dodged by just a hair's breadth. "ACK!" Just as her body was straightened, yet another one was five inches away from her, and avoided with a consequential scorch on her fur. Rikki, feeling the sizzle of the charcoaled tips of her damaged thigh, where the fireball had grazed her. Feeling the pungent sting of the faint wisps of smoke in her nostrils, she beheld the damage with horror.

It turned into rage the next minute, because the Vulpix was thrown into the air with a loud, chattering snarl, the hiss of seething lightning, and a head-on slam delivered from a Quick Attack. "YOU RUINED MY TATTOOS, YOU SON OF A B—" The Vulpix rolled along the ground, whining, but with tremulous paws managed to rise back up on its feet.

"Vulpix!" its Trainer barked, jabbing a finger in the direction of the enraged Pikachu, "Ember her sorry a—"

Just before the command could completely leave his mouth, Violet was quick to make one of her own, catching Rikki's attention, "Rikki, Thunderpunch!"

The Vulpix's mouth shut tight in fear, its large, watery eyes boring toward the approaching Pikachu. A smirk the size of a Snorlax was plastered all over her furry mug, striking what looked like utter fear in the Vulpix's eyes. A tiny squeak escaped its maw and it turned its body around, muscles tense and ready to run, but once more, Rikki proved to be the faster one.

Cracks and pops like blistering fireworks flashed in the air around Rikki's glowing fist, stark gold and pale blue siphoning up her knuckles and leaping along her fur like a frenzied, miniature thunderhead encapsulating the rapidly swinging paw. A sharp cut swept in a swift jab, twisting bolts following the backside of Rikki's paw as it smashed right down the Vulpix's jaw, forcing the squealing head down. Before it could react, the fist was back in a roundabout smack, striking it right in the kisser. With an agonized shriek and a concluding, thunderous crash, it went flying along the rock-ridden floor and tumbled over and over, steadily growing slower until it lay on its ribs, in a fading cloud of dust.

Adjacent to this battle, Jax shifted his legs carefully apart, warily eyeing the Magnemite. Emotionless, unblinking metal met cool, sea green, parked beneath a casually arched pair of eyebrows. In a way, Jax decided, it was almost unassuming in how it bobbed in the air and let out a wavering coo, fizzling around the edges. Hardly very threatening.

At least, until a shell-like eyelid lowered, encasing half of its eye like a sourly simplistic attempt at a frown, and, as the air around it rattled on what seemed like an invisible ripple, it had nearly warped in a cannonball-forced barrel right before Jax's eyes. What once were uninterestedly examining it widened and the pupils shrinked, growing into little, rich dots, and shrinking ever more as the Magnemite smashed into his chest.

"ACK!" Jax snapped, nearly rolling back.

Thankfully he managed to topple out of the way as the Magnemite withdrew, then came swooping in for another attack, barely missing. Its body vibrated as it rose into the air, the eyelid narrowing down, tiny pupils rigid and as algid as the steel it was made of. Jax grimaced—the sounds it made bombarded his ears like thousands of pinpricks, sharper than the mellow, mechanical whirring he heard it elicit before.

Either way, he was pretty sure he could hit it—but it didn't seem to have any real sensitive parts. Hopefully, he wagered that its eye could suffice for a nice target—after all, it would certainly hurt if someone poked you in the eye, right?

Right. So this time, Jax was next to attack, pursuing the Magnemite as it pitched into the air just above him. Jerking back, Jax leapt up after it, swinging his claw 'round and aiming, the best he could, for the speedy little sphere's eye. Unfortunately, just as he felt it graze what would qualify as its cornea, it pulled back, its eyelid flashing before it jabbed back in. It nearly gave a dirty glance to Jax's head, and probably would have nearly knocked him out, if he hadn't twisted about and ducked down, feeling it bullet over him.

Rising back to his feet, he watched it skitter to a stop, just above the Zubat's boulder.

The Zubat's boulder.

_OH SHIT._ was Jax's paramount thought.

At first the Magnemite didn't seem to notice her, instead just regathering its strength. There was a chance, a slim one, but still a chance, that it wouldn't notice Eko, as she pressed her narrowly arched back against the stone, her odd tool pushing against her furry flesh, and lifted her wings over her head.

They were both utterly quiet, besides the palpitation of the Magnemite's irritating buzzing.

Then, much to the Zubat's great trepidation, it happened to spot something as its head pivoted and its screws swiveled in their little nests. The peak of a bushy bang, or the blurred edge of something blue.

"Uh…" the Zubat started nervously, forcing a shaky, unconvincing smile, "Hi."

The Magnemite said nothing, just a droning whirr, and what sounded like a machine backfiring, distant in its side and in the rapidly twirling screws. Something thin and eldritch trickled into the air around it, curling over until it became serrated, glowing, beaming from its body and purling higher and higher. The Zubat's ears fell once more, and she staggered back (something rather difficult due to her having no legs), her wings still flared protectively in front of her.

"Oh CRAP, oh crap. Nononono," she babbled, looking back and forth for another source of sanctuary. She found nothing close enough, and looked back, her neck straining as her pores oozed beads of sweat. "Noooooo, nonono. Listen, pal, listen—" she started to chatter, waving her wings, "You shouldn't be botherin' with me. I'm completely harmless, see? But what you SHOULD BE WORRYING ABOUT…"

She struggled to turn her body around, her body ratcheting from how frighteningly stiff her body had become, frozen by intimidation. Despite this, she lifted a wing and pointed into a field of pillars, rock formations, and dimly-lit crystals. "Is the HORRIFYING, FEROCIOUS MONSTER RIGHT BEHIND YOU."

The Magnemite just stared, unamused, at her.

Somewhere over near the battlefield, the two Rockets exchanged quizzical glances, Rikki's eye twitched, and Jax slapped his forehead with his palm. If the Vulpix were awake, it likely would've been in a similar state of bemusement.

And a thoroughly alarmed Violet had taken cover behind a rock around ten or fifteen inches her size, and was hysterically surveying the cavern. "OH GOD IT'S BACK AGAIN," she wailed, retreating back behind the rock and trying to look as inconspicuous as possible.

Her fright went completely unnoticed by the confused group, up until the silence and the exchange of curious glances went interrupted by a loud screech and a fireball, spiraling through the air and smacking into the Magnemite's side. All eyes moved to the besieged Pokemon as it buckled in mid-air and furiously tried to conjure up a shockwave, only to be blasted again by Jax. Before it could even move an inch the barrage continued, peppering its side in a flurry of steam. It didn't take long before the Magnemite started to go down, its giant eye rolling back and its body landing on the ground beside the startled Zubat with a loud thump.

Jax shook his head, throwing the steam wafting from his nostrils to the air. "I don't get why I didn't do that in the first place," he mumbled, then turned away from the twitching Magnemite. Off to the side, Rikki raised back onto her haunches, and Violet pulled away from her rock, still hugging its side with the hesitant arch of her spine.

Their eyes combed over the Vulpix, sprawled on the ground, and the Magnemite, its body still caught in a loop of spasms. They darted simultaneously up to the two Rockets, staring in disbelief at their defeated Pokemon with looks of shock slapped on their faces.

Just as Violet's mouth had opened, a frown on her face, red flashes of light illuminated the area briefly as the fallen Pokemon vanished, and were drawn back into their balls, and in the blink of an eye, the two Rockets were sprinting away. "Let's get out of here!" One of them barked, turning sharply around the corner.

His slightly slower compatriot skidded briefly along the ground before he followed suite, but not before he cast a glare over his shoulder at the group that would have turned one's blood to ice. Something in his gaze had clearly screamed murder, and if he had his way he likely would've administered it rather painfully and slowly. "Right behind you," he seemed to force out.

"HEY!" Rikki was the first to react, like she was breaking the trance between them that had inspired glares and smug smiles or scowls. The Pikachu leapt forward, fur electrifying again as she fired off another shot of lightning, which barely grazed his rubber-bound heels. She stopped on her heels, clenching her fists and face scrunched in a murderous glare. "JERKS! Come back and get your asses kicked like normal f—"

Violet had pried herself off the rock by this time, and had snuck up behind Rikki, who was still fuming she didn't get to defeat the rest of the villains. "Hey, knock it off," she said with a surprising amount of maturity, "We beat them, we stripped them of their manhood…" when she saw that her speech was unmoving, she quickly piped in with a cheerful, "And when we run into more we can personally castrate them!"

Rikki seemed to feel much better after this.

Jax however, was less concerned about the escape of their attackers, and more on the silence of the hiding Zubat. It didn't take long to find her, as she had shifted from behind it to when she was sitting, propped up the best she could without legs, staring at them (or so Jax assumed) with ears lowered. Jax wasn't entirely sure if it wasn't out of trauma or just the look someone made before keeling over in a dead faint, but before he could open his mouth and ask what was wrong with her, she actually re-animated.

And quite spectacularly.

Her whole body came alive, the corners of her mouth upturning like her ears, and her wings spreading wide in an exuberant gesture almost as big as her excited grin, and her voice as she shouted excitedly, "THAT WAS SO AWESOME!"

Jax just stared at her, not having enough motivation to raise an eyebrow. _Well, _he thought numbly, _At least she's okay._

_If not driven to insanity._

Violet and Rikki, however, took the compliment at face value, both their faces lighting up like the Zubat's. "Really?" Violet asked, then pointed to Rikki, then moved her finger back to Jax, as though she were indicating that it was them who did all the work.

Rikki was well aware of it, and smirked evilly out of the corner of her mouth, pumping her arms. "Yeah, I WAS pretty kickass, wasn't I?" she asked, as Jax rolled his eyes and Violet simply stared, running her freckled hand through her hair, but not complaining.

They probably would've remained in silence for a great long while if it weren't for the fact that the Zubat's praise didn't end there. The Zubat, not having knees, somehow was able to bend her body and press her head to the ground, splaying her wings before her. "OH, GREAT AND POWERFUL WARRIORS!" she exclaimed, much to the abject shock of the group, "For WEEKS I have prayed for fighters of your caliber to come to LIBERATE US ALL!"

The only thought that crossed Violet's mind was something akin to "What the—" which needed no further exploration. Jax began to examine the kowtowing Zubat with a critical eye, while Rikki continued to gloat.

"Uh…" Violet started meekly, "Excuse me?"

The Zubat still didn't end there. "Mighty warriors!" she repeated, standing back up and spreading her wings beseechingly out toward the trio.

"Yes?" Rikki answered automatically.

"We are in need of your help!"

"What?" Jax asked, finally getting the strength to raise his eyebrow, "Who needs your help?"

"US!"

"Who's 'us'?"

"My colony!"

Violet interrupted, "Your WHAT?"

The Zubat didn't seem to mind, while the others' patience was already wearing thin. Thankfully, she was still there to provide answers. "Y'know—we live here! Us!" She waved her wings excitedly, still exuberant from her 'saviors' discovery, "We need your help!"

Jax was once more bestowed with something more useful than use of his trademark, highly flexible eyebrow. It was his long-suffering, long-exhausted patience. "Who—" he stopped there, deciding that he wouldn't get any clear answers if he continued on that tangent. Instead, he adopted a different road. "…Why do you need our help?"

Here, the Zubat's enthusiasm faded. Her ears lowered, and a scowl twitched on the corner of her thin, fanged mouth. "The guys you just fought!" she said bitterly, folding her wings and 'humph'ing. "The Rockets! They've taken over this place! They're wrecking the cave and tearing down the crystals, and they've chased away my colony!"

Yes, they had gotten a more clear picture. Jax scratched at the bridge of his nose thoughtfully, unsure how to respond. Violet frowned, also in deep thought. So, this was why the police were so busy. "Uhm, do you know if you've seen any policemen around there?" When she saw the Zubat's curious tilt of her head, she reworded, "Guys in uniforms with big Pokemon. They walk around with flashlights… they're walking around here. Weren't they going to help you?"

The Zubat thought for a good moment, rubbing her chin, before she responded, "Oh yeah, those guys. They're fighting them, but…" she flinched, "They're not winning."

Violet was quick to cut in, "Wait wait wait! These guys are the POLICE. They have BIGASS POKEMON! –How- could they be losing—"

"I don't know!" the Zubat said, throwing up her wings. "But they're not doing us any good!"

After a moment of silence, she looked down at the ground, took a deep breath, as though keeping her frustration in check—Violet started to worry if she had gotten her feelings hurt somehow, but this didn't last, as the Zubat's head turned back up, a big grin on her mug. "So whaddya say?" she asked, "Can you help us? Please? We can reward you!"

Violet looked down at Rikki, who seemed rather interested at the idea. Jax, however, seemed more intent on wondering how to take advantage of the situation without—well, taking advantage of the Zubat, if any such thing was possible. Violet was able to intercept before Rikki could voice her interest in the treasure, or Jax could probe further, for she believed she got the best idea in the span of the week.

"Hey, I think I know what you can do to help us," she said, snapping her fingers. "If you help us, we'll help you, okay?"

Jax and Rikki's heads both turned toward her, identical expressions on their face that she gleefully ignored. The Zubat, however, had obviously heard the most wonderful thing she had ever sampled in her whole life. "YES! Oh, THANK YOU! THANK YOU!" she clasped her wings together in an oddly hand-like fashion, nearly bouncing up and down. "You have no idea how important this is—now," she stopped, and, holding her excited shaking the best she could, said, "What do you want me to do?"

Violet folded her arms, tucking her thumbs beneath her armpits. "Well, I have this friend… he's a Kakuna, you see, and he was kidnapped a few minutes ago. He was brought in here, and we really, REALLY need to get him back…" she extended her arms to her, emphasizing the Zubat between her framing hands, "So can you help us?"

The Zubat fell silent, poking thoughtfully at her lip. "A Kakuna you say…?" she repeated, turning over the description in her head. Finally, a revelation lit up her face, and she looked up. "I saw it! He came right through here!"

All three's eyes widened, but Violet looked the happiest out of all of them, by far. "GREAT!" she exclaimed, twining her fingers together, "So what happened to him?"

Much to her dismay, the Zubat's face fell dark again, and a grimace even wider than the sour little scowl she gave before dominated her mouth, forcing her to bare her fangs out of the corner of her lips. "Them."

"Who?"

"The Clefairies."

All fell silent in an instance, save for the faraway, monotonous chirping of an inconveniently placed cricket.

Jax was the first to move (his eye had twitched, elevating his eyebrow again), and speak. "I'm sorry, what did you sa—"

"THE CLEFAIRIES!" The Zubat repeated, with twice the amount of spite oozing from her words, "Oh, the bastards. They think they own the bloody cave. They're all like, 'LOOKIT ME, I'M CUTE AND CUDDLY, WE CAN GET AWAY WITH EVERYTHING'," she finally grew too disgusted of parodying them and just spit off to the side, like she were trying to dispose of the vile venom their mere mention had inflicted her delicate, sensitive tongue with.

"Holy crap, they ARE bastards!" Violet exclaimed, looking absolutely infuriated, "Those sucky little butterballs! They took Zeeg and ran off with him!"

"'Least they're not as bad as the Jigglypuffs," the Zubat interjected.

"What?"

"Never mind. So, you with me?" The Zubat asked, spreading her wings. One of her two tails wrapped around the odd, two-pronged object laying discarded behind her, and effortlessly carried it with her as she flapped forward, dropping down onto the nearest landing point.

Which happened to be Jax's head. Grunting, he strained to look back up at her, but just ignored her eventually, and looked to Violet, and Rikki, who had already started to get a brisk start ahead of them. Violet stretched her arms high over her head, finally eliminating the last vestiges of sleep that still lurked in her muscles. "We're right with you—" she stopped for a moment, pursing at her lips.

The Zubat happily provided her with what she needed to hear, leaning happily on her joint-like elbows. "Eko! But you can call me Eko," she said cheerfully, managing not to poke Jax in the eye despite her lofty position. "Let's go, mighty warriors--" she stopped, sitting back upright and clapping her wings. "Ohhh, they'll all be so proud of me! Just wait, guys, we're coming to save you!"

And as they trudged ahead, Jax remaining rather silent despite the unwelcome visitor on his head, Eko dipped back down, leaning into his eyes. "Hey, but you're kinda cute," she said, voice dropping into a playfully singsong tone as she poked a very disturbed Jax in the muzzle, summoning him out of his silence as his jaw nearly dropped, "After all this is over, think you'n I could take a walk around the cave, if ya know what I mean? I promise the big mean ol' cave monsters won't get you—"

Jax didn't bother struggling to look at her, instead just trying to restrain himself from swatting the flirtatious Zubat off of his skull and musing on how he should've just stayed in bed.

**Chapter X Complete**

--

Yes, I know, gratuitously long… once more, my apologies. I'm so sorry guys, I just keep rambling. (falls) I'll try not to shove so much in one chapter next time—but hey, look! New character! Say hello to Eko, everyone!

If you guys could spot the Bug's Life references in this, you win a cookie. If you can realize that Eko is a slight parody of Usopp from One Piece, you win a Magikarp. OR BETTER YET, COOKIES SHAPED LIKE MAGIKARPS IF YOU GET BOTH RIGHT.

If they evolve, just put some plastic in your mouth and everything'll be a-okay. Bye-bye, love you guys.


	11. The Great Kakuna Rescue Mission

**Disclaimer: **Damn. Pokemon still doesn't belong to me. Just most of the characters besides Rory, who belongs to the brilliant Agz (Alan G. Zendra). Yes, I'm at a lack of things to say.

**Author's Note: **Omg, Chapter XI. Hopefully I can get back into the swing of things when it comes to writing chapters, because I feel lousy when I have you guys wait. Besides, it's good practice in responsibility if I can hold back this HORRIBLE habit of procrastination I have.

I got some nice reviews too, and I'm glad that everybody seems to like Eko. It's always a good thing when I hear that one of my characters is well-received. I also appreciate the honesty in some of the reviews, because it'll help me improve. The reason behind the brevity of the last battle scene was because I need to cut it down when more than one Pokemon is involved, otherwise it'll go on for lord knows how many pages. That's the problem with having a huge cast of characters in an Action story. To Owl, I was worried you thought I died at first! XD But I'm so glad you liked the chapter! I was hoping the Clefairy thing would catch everyone off guard… at least I hope it did.

As for shortening my sentences, having run-on ones have been a habit my whole life. XD And you make a good point and have brought this to my attention, so I thank you. This is a habit that'll be hard to kick, so be patient with me, though. XD Also, aww. But I can't wait to see that story when you get to it. I c'n be patient. 

Oh, as a note, this chapter has a few references… see the bottom if you're interested, but mind you, I'm not trying to steal anything. I just like parodying things or making little subtle references. P Also, there's something VERY important, based on a joke that Agz let me borrow. It's sort of his copywrite, in a way… and also, if you read something in this chapter and got offended by it, as there's something a bit racy in it, at the bottom is a sincere apology.

As another note, I take back what I said before. This chapter is WITHOUT A DOUBT the longest I've ever written, but I hope from the bottom of my heart that you'll still find it entertaining, or at the very least amusing.

**Chapter XI: **The Great Kakuna Rescue Mission

--

"_No hero is mortal till he dies." – W.H Auden_

The sound of footsteps echoed hollowly in the stone corridors of the mountains, the cold, throbbing glow of the crystals bejeweling the walls illuminating the rigid curves of the pillars and jags. Shadows twisted briefly in the dim blue, fading into the atramentous corners of the dark, the crunching of many pebbles punctuating the footsteps.

Another crunch heralded the impact of another, brightly-striped paw against the dried stone. Pebbles pooled around the heels as it lifted away, the rest of the body following. A pair of hazel eyes stared out, shifting suspiciously from side to side, from behind a mess of tangled bangs, looking mildly disappointed whenever its searching resulted in nothing interesting. Rikki's eyebrow raised in an arch over a hastily drawn wave extending from the sun scribbled around the outline of her eye.

Bored. She was so bored, and most of all skeptical. She had been more than willing at first to charge into the situation for the sake of violence, but all it took were a few completely calm moments of walking down monotony for a few dozen hours to chisel down her already devoid patience into nothing. Most of her time was spent fidgeting at first, but now it had become a necessity, to keep herself busy at doing SOMETHING. As though to prove this, she gave one tug on her finger, popping the joint and smearing a long line of pink curled up to one of her sable-hued nails.

"Come on guys," Rikki muttered out of the corner of her mouth, "This is stupid. We're here to go emasculate some Rockets, not go on an Easter Egg hunt for a stinkin' cocoon."

Jax sighed from beside her, his head now bare of Eko and her flirtations, which had been relentless for the past thirty minutes. Thankfully he had bartered for her to ignore him and go bother Violet in exchange for carrying her strange little weapon, leaving him to his own thoughts and ministrations, which were only dedicated to looking over his new cargo. "Unless Clefairies have genitals, Rikki, I don't think you'll be very excited," he said absent-mindedly.

Rikki seemed irked by this for not devoting his whole attention to her, and hastily turned her head toward him, narrowing her eyes dangerously, as though to say, 'you'd better start listening to what I'm saying or I'll take that thing and shove it where the sun don't shine'. Boredom seemed to have such an effect on the irate Pikachu, when her almost nonexistent patience was stretched to its limits. The Charmeleon was turning over the rock-like object, fully examining every detail as gently as possible, to avoid breaking it—Jax couldn't help but be absorbed by anything that was even remotely the result of some inkling of intelligence, especially from such an unassuming creature.

The rock that formed the base was vaguely shaped like a 'Y' of some kind, with a few shards of the same gemstone dappling the walls speckling the sides in thin shards. A long strip of elastic something was tied to either prong, dangling against his palm, which he studied its flexibility by gently tugging on the base, stretching it. It merely tensed, not showing any signs of breaking or tearing before it slapped back into its original, floppy state when he released it.

It was a slingshot, Rikki realized, and raised her other eyebrow (her former one was getting sore). Jax's amusement in inventions was becoming all the more apparent to the naked eye, but this was layered quite well besides the normal indifference in his eyes. Rikki's suspicion wore out within a few seconds, and she just gave up on deciphering his attentiveness altogether.

"You're no fun," she grumbled out of the corner of her mouth, purposefully raising the volume just loud enough for Jax to hear.

"Too bad," Jax retorted, at last drawing his eyes off from his observations, where he turned his head toward Eko, who was mounted in the messy bangs of Violet's navy hairdo from beneath her floppy, knickknack-covered panama hat. "Hey, Eko. Did you make this—"

Within the five minutes that passed when Eko took her perch on Violet's head, the two already warmed up to one another. It could've been Violet's natural benevolence, or it could've been Eko's admiration, but this seemed irrelevant. After all, they seemed to know how to entertain each other.

"I spy with my little eye, something… yellow."

"It's Rikki!"

Needless to say, they were getting along swimmingly well.

Simplicity in the mind could be such a bonding thing.

"Okay, good. I spy with my little eye, something red…"

"AHEM."

Thankfully, he got Eko's attention, and the Zubat seemed rather enthusiastic that her work was noticed. Leaning out of Violet's hair (and nearly poking her in the eye as she settled her wings on her forehead), her mouth curved into a fanged grin.

"Nonono, I didn't make it," she said casually, then extended her wings toward Jax, indicating the shape of the object with the angles of her wingtips, "I INVENTED IT." She said, as though the change of words made a difference.

Jax noticed this, but didn't bother himself with it, although his look was rather cynical. Violet's pupils turned toward the blue shape that she assumed was on her head (despite all straining of her eyes, she still couldn't fully see the Zubat besides a wingtip and a strand of headfur from beyond her own hair), and she piped up, "So you make things?"

Eko inhaled sharply, inflating her upper chest with pride-fueled arrogance, and folded her arms over her bloated upper torso. Smirking out of the corner of her mouth, she confirmed it with a chipper, "Yep!" she said, jabbing to her face with a thumb-like wingtip, "I'm inventing, mostly."

Off somewhere ahead of them, Rikki just rolled her eyes and decided to take that moment to tune out, tilting her ears away from them and pointing them ahead of her. Just as her foot started to press against the soil, a significantly louder crunch rang in the air, making her ears quiver like radio antennae atop her furry head. Foot hovering over the soil and back bristling, she stared around, eyes shifting back and forth beneath her curiously knitted eyebrows. Another sound followed that one, a long twang, like a stiffening, tightening rope, but besides that, she could make out nothing else besides the conversation going on in between her companions.

Nothing but darkness greeted her by eyesight, but there was still that inherent uneasiness creeping along her spine, the sort of thing you'd feel if you had just scraped off a bug that had been crawling over your back. She could feel something lurking around her, slinking like the phantoms of eternity, like the shadowed cloaks of wandering wraiths, like…

A stalking, spying thingy.

Rikki was never all that good with words.

"Now where have I heard that somewhere befor—" Violet began in response to Eko's previous statement, but was predictably interrupted by Rikki, who had decided to stop her rather (un)exciting game of counting the number of gems on the walls to announce her sudden discovery.

"Hey guys…" she started uncertainly, perking one ear, "Did you just hear something…?"

Finally, her foot did hit something, and with that, all things sunk straight into Hell.

The floor beneath her gave way at first, scattering pebbles about, and what looked like a cage of criss-crossing, thick bands of rubbery vines enclosed around her, nearly smothering her instinctually-sparking body. Mouth stretching open in a loud hiss, a loud cry of surprise tore itself from her throat as what captured her uplifted harshly with the same whirring sound she heard before.

She was up around four feet in the air now, and the group ahead of her's eyes all widened, combing over the net in horror. Rikki twisted her body around the best she could, but only resulted in turning herself over, as her wrists and one of her legs were tangled in the net's bands—despite this, she kept fighting, kept swinging her free paw and clawing and swinging her tail about like a wild animal, while the rest of the group looked at her in aghast shock.

"What the…?" Violet ventured, her jaw starting to fall slack.

"Oh shit," Eko said to herself bluntly.

"Why do we always have to run into things like these—" Jax began, but he was interrupted by Rikki.

"DON'T JUST STAND THERE AND GAWK, YOU IDIOTS!" She snarled, clenching her fist at them with her still trapped paw, "Get me OUT OF HERE!"

Violet's shoulders stiffened, her body tensing as her eyes moved back and forth with sharp, jerky movements, between Charmeleon and Pikachu, then up to Eko, who was still sitting on her head. Another bellowed "VIOLET" jolted her out of her superior, and, with that, she ran beneath the net and snatched a fistful of the wires in her strong hands.

"Alright, hang on, Rikki!" Violet muttered, fiddling with the vines intently. "I'll get you out of here in no time—"

The net, however, proved to be less vulnerable than she first anticipated. The moment she tugged on them, they elastically snapped back, made of the same, cold material that Eko had used for her slingshot, more likely—maybe a stronger sort of mixture. She tried every combination of patterns she could think of, pulling, twisting, and crossing the bands over each other again and again, only for her efforts to prove futile.

"Frig," Violet grunted, giving the bit of net in her hand another, last pull, "It's not giving away."

"Then try harder, dammit!" Rikki's response came quickly from the enraged Pikachu, her piercing gaze driving Eko to meep quietly and her ears to fall flat. "I can't move at all! Who's the wise guy who's set up this thing, huh?"

Violet didn't have much of a chance to think about it, because suddenly, the net began to move. All it took was an unprecedented jostle, then it rose about an inch, followed by more inches, that nearly had the four-foot-nine Violet's feet lifted off the ground. Rikki, once she realized the sudden momentum, yelped and began her scrambling anew, faster and more empowered than ever. Somewhere on the ground, as the net hit five feet, Jax cursed, and he raced between the net beside Violet, staring up through the orifices in the wires with narrowed, perturbed eyes.

"God DAMMIT, Rikki, sometimes I think you're not worth this effort…" Jax yelled up at the Pikachu, who shot him a dirty glance in return, as he crouched briefly and sprung up with all his might, latching onto the net with his long, sharp claws.

The net only remained on his height for a moment before it had leveled around six inches higher, leaving both him and Violet hanging with it. The girl beside him squealed and kicked out instinctually, looking for something to steady herself against her, turning her flailing legs into tanned blurs. Somewhere overhead, Eko joined the efforts, slamming against the rising net chest-first, and sinking her teeth into the fluid, which merely bloated around her fangs. Giving a muffled snarl into it, she pulled back, only stretching a bare inch of it. They all pulled and tugged, and all it took was a few seconds for the net to reach seven feet.

Jax was the first one to notice, because he cursed loudly when he dared to give a glance at the bottom. Eko was next. Violet remained oblivious, however, as she kept up her diligence with increasing urgency, taking the Pokemons' mutual curses as a barometer for their decreasing time.

"Hang on, Rikki!" Violet shouted, sounding too panicked to be encouraging, "I've almost got you—"

The bands were stretched to their limit by now, the veins in Violet's arms twitching and straining as she yanked back the best she could, nearly sending her falling in the process. "I ALMOST HAVE YOU—"

There was now an opening possibly large enough to fit Rikki through, which the Pikachu noticed through the corner of her wide, saucer-sized eyes. She spun around, only succeeding in wrapping her limbs up in the spider web-like substance, but continued to fight and push her way forward, finally getting close enough to reach out with her unrestrained paw--

Then, that dreaded sound was heard, cold and acrid in the electrified air, as the cord elevating her tensed, tightened, and, like a serpentine whip, sent her shooting up into the air, allowing her words to deteriorate into a scream that was quickly swallowed up into the heady darkness above.

Eko was the first sent flying, her body spinning tumultuously in the air before she nearly smacked the ground, Jax following suit, the sound of another curse word trailing through the air just before Violet heard a dull thud and a pained exclamation. Violet, however, lasted until the eighth foot, still hanging on for dear life, refusing to let go, until she was forcefully ejected and sent plummeting down with the rest.

It all passed by in a blur, as the girl slammed smack-dab into the ground, back first, atop something soft and painfully writhing. Her back crackled and her body twitched like a convulsing, dying bug, her fingers still clinging at the air as though she were still reaching for one of the millions of nets that were orbiting her eyes, behind the kaleidoscope of churning, fluorescent colors. Up above her, her hat fluttered errantly like a cloth butterfly before it dropped, much like its owner, landing upside-down beside her with a clatter of its many bouncing fishing lures, Pokemon-shaped buttons, and Pokeball-adorned straps. Stars fluttered in her eyes as a dreadful headache smashed right into her, nearly making her numb to the squirming of whatever she had landed on, much more violent than her own spasms.

"Violet…" a groaning, strained voice hissed beneath her, "…Get the hell off of me…"

"Lookit the pretty colors," was all that Violet said, as a particularly sparkly shade of purple did a somersault before her eyes, and it was likely that it would be all she would say for the next week or so.

Even her unconscious grabbing at the air was delayed by this mirage, as she abandoned it in favor of staring at the miasmatic jumble like some mesmerized baby.

She was too trapped in her deliriousness to hear a sudden, squeaky 'ow' from ahead of her, and then a continued jabbering in the same tone. The voice she thought she heard before responded harshly, spoken in an agonized grunt, until somehow she was rolled off of her cushiony savior so she was sprawled onto the rocky ground. For a good few minutes, she remained there in limbo, watching, and when her time was up she could only blink at the tall, red blur thrust between her eyes, nearly lost behind the mist.

She could've raised her eyebrow when she heard the squeaky voice speak. "Y'okay?"

"No," what sounded like a leveled baritone emitted from the faintly moving jaw of the shape, "Unless my spine manages to reconstruct itself." It set its hands on its back and arched itself, groaning in unison with the loud '_crack_' that elicited from it. "Ow…"

It opened its eyes, shaped like little smudges of opalescent green, and stared down at Violet in the face. "Violet," he said, waving his claw in her face, "Violet, you still sane?"

Violet gave one last, rather furious twitch on the ground, and, with a tremendous effort on her part, lifted her head up slightly, a few bangs of her hair draping over her face. "Hold me closer, tiny dancer," was all she said, before she let her head drop back down without another word.

"…Okay, you're not," the figure muttered. Suddenly, a second blur entered her vision, this one a much smaller, blue one, with two, pointy appendages on its head, and with immense, leathery hands—or claws, either way—straddling the red thing's head.

"Violet, speak to me!" the squeaky one pleaded, holding up its indistinct wing-like object, "How many fingers am I holding up?"

Violet stared numbly, yet intently, at the hand for a few seconds. "…Yellow."

And then she slumped altogether.

"Eh…" the blur thing muttered, leaping down from Jax's head and landing squarely on her chest (much to Violet's agony), "That works. Come on, wake up! Don't die, Violet!" She was sobbing rather exaggeratedly now, crying out, "DON'T DIE!"

The fist of the red thing scooped her up, and deposited her off on the side, giving her a nasty glare before returning to Violet. "Violet, wake up," he tried, snapping his fingers in her face. "Snap out of it."

Violet squinted against the haze, barely penetrating the colors enough to barely make out the silhouette. Her eyes rolled in the back of her head once, twice, and finally shifted into relative, dazed focus, as the smog cleared and the wisp circling the forms faded, leaving solid, pronounced frames. "…Jax?" she guessed.

"So you're not brain dead after all. Come on, I'll help you up," Jax's red claw firmly grasped her by the wrist, while the other rested on her back, carefully lifting the girl forward, keeping her slumped, dizzy form balanced. "Do you remember anything that happened?"

Eko fidgeted atop Jax's head. "Uh…" she looked away at a suddenly very interesting piece of crystal. "Well…"

"What?" Violet demanded, removing her hand from her forehead, despite the fact it did nothing to calm the biting headache, "What happened?"

Jax, however, had no choice but to tackle the subject rather than sidestep it after a marginal pause of consideration. "It's Rikki, Violet," he admitted, finally managing to pull the girl up onto her rear, "She's been snatched up by some sort of net… or something. We can't find her anywhere…"

That was the extent of his calmness, as he began preparing himself for the apocalypse when he finished steadying Violet.

There was a long, tense silence, as both girl and Charmeleon stared at each other. Eko braced herself, covering her wilting ears with her wings.

"…Violet?"

Whatever he had predicted came true. The girl's slightly slanted body jerked itself forward, eyes wide and mouth agape, wide into a toothy, bellowing rictus. "WHAT?!?!" she half-asked, half-screamed-at-the-top-of-her-lungs, nearly barreling Jax over with the sheer force of the distraught girl's exclamation.

The much smaller Eko did, however, end up getting thrown off of Jax's head, and needed to hang onto the crest-like appendage protruding from the back of his head for balance. "It's the Clefairies, I tell ya!" she cried unhappily, "They've realized our intrusion on their territory! IT'S A CONSPIRACY, GUYS!!!"

Whatever energy that had driven Violet before had been sapped away, as Violet had pulled her knees close to herself, burying her face in her hands, as though to defend herself from the event that continued to ravage her mind over and over again.

It had dug its way deep into her stomach, and was sinking its way even deeper, like an ice-cold drill, driving her into depression. "Oh shit…" she whimpered at first, but as her emotions started to reach an unbearable pitch, she finally just abandoned all quiet mourning and was onto her feet, ignoring the pain in her back. "No, wait. No. She's probably just… she's probably just… just around here or something…"

Jax was for once looking genuinely concerned for the upset girl, reaching out and mouth opened to tell her not to rush when she had just taken a fall, when she just ignored him and had pointed her mouth toward the pitch blackness that consumed the roof. "Rikki?" she called out once, tenatively.

The coldness swelled. There was no reply.

She tried again, as the swelling finally hit rock bottom, and it began to burn behind her eyes and something stung with the veins, swimming beneath her pupils like mist. "Rikki?" It was much louder this time, so her voice rebounded off the walls like a pingpong ball, eventually just wearing itself out. Somewhere behind her, Eko winced and Jax started to go for her again, when she finally tried again.

"_RIKKI, _this isn't funny," a timid-voiced Violet started, "The joke's over. I'm on to you. Just come out, seriously."

As though to spite her denial, absolutely nothing happened, except for the tensing of the solemn atmosphere.

"We're doomed," Eko moaned, hiding her head beneath her drooping ears, "We're so completely and utterly doomed! Our hero has been captured by the Clefairies, and they'll no doubt subject her to their nefarious and horrible TORTURE! We're doomed—" she went on and on, oblivious to Violet's escalating horror.

"OH SHIT," Violet's little remaining calmness snapped in two, forcing her to hide her face once again in her hands, "It's all my fault. Of course it's my fault. It's always my fault. It's my fault that Rikki's gone and—" her self-depreciating rambling drifted off into incoherency, as well as why she had decided to pin the blame on herself.

With the mess of hopeless words and fretting in the air, and a heartbroken girl and a paranoid Zubat on his hands, there was no surprise that Jax's patience had finally been snuffed out.

"WILL ALL OF YOU CALM THE HELL DOWN!?!"

They calmed the hell down. They stared collectively at the Charmeleon, eyes wide (sans Eko).

Jax just stood there for a moment, his eyes shifting from Eko, to Violet, to Eko, to Violet, and back and forth until he realized how horrible he was at comforting people and clenched his mouth shut again, letting the silence seep back in.

Somewhere, a cricket chirped.

Jax gambled once more, struggling to maintain some sort of calmness, or supportiveness, which was rather difficult for someone so used to unflinchingly criticizing people. "We need to STAY CALM," he repeated in a tone much gentler, "If the Clefairies have her, all we need to do is find her, and find her quickly. They're obviously somewhere down this tunnel, if what Eko said is true."

A very uncomfortable Violet looked away, bending down and hastily scooping up her hat from the ground as Eko piped up. She adjusted it atop her head, resecuring a Starmie-shaped hook to it that had fallen loose, and just stood there meekly, hands clasped before her lap and her eyebrows curved in a nervous jumble over her watery, still dazed eyes.

"But the Clefairies are masters of torture!" Eko insisted, while an almost comically teary-eyed Violet broke out into a sporadic concatenation of sniffles and other emotionally devastated sounds, "They'll no doubt have scuppered Master Rikki by the time we infiltrate their defenses!"

The glare Jax gave her could've frozen Hell a thousand times over once he noticed how the momentary silence was quickly unraveling. "Listen," he said haltingly, "They're CLEFAIRIES, Eko. C-L-E-F-A-I-R-I-E-S." He purposely drawled out all the syllables of the last world, as though to emphasize his point. "The Cabbage Patch Kids of Kanto. Chances are Rikki's electrocuting all of them the moment they let her loose from that net, and chances are we can plow through them easily."

Violet stroked her chin. "Y'know Jax," she said thoughtfully, all the tears in her eyes immediately evaporating on the spot, "You have a point. Even if there's a whole colony of 'em, we can probably win!" her mood was completely and totally elevated by the second she reached that revelation, a big, confident smile on her face. "After all, what can they do, huh?"

Then she noticed that Jax and Eko had become rather unsettlingly silent, and were staring off into what appeared to be absolutely nothing, their eyes aimed right at Violet. "…What?" a slightly offended Violet asked, both her eyebrows cocking in a very Jax-like fashion. There was no answer, besides the rather bewildered look on Jax's face, and the gaping droop of Eko's mouth. "…WHAT?" she repeated.

Both Jax's eyes had grown several times larger than what would be considered healthy, or comfortable, and judging by the twitching of his cheeks and jawlines, the latter was proved true. Eko's jaw dropped a few more inches, and the dumbstruck Charmeleon cautiously raised a clawed hand toward Violet, a finger extended. "Violet…" he began, pupils tiny.

"_WHAT?_" a very fed-up Violet ejaculated, spreading her arms in exasperation.

"Look behind you."

Violet didn't get the chance, because she felt something rather sharp and jagged jab her right between the shoulder blades, nearly shoving her forward with the unexpected force put behind it. "OW!" Violet blurted, quickly steadying herself. Grinding her teeth together and ignoring the frantic looks on her partners, she whirled around, stomping her foot on the ground, smashing a few pebbles in the process. "Alright, I am NOT in the mood for this! Who's the bozo who—"

Then she realized what she was looking at.

Pointing between her eyes was the curved, rocky head of a poorly-constructed spear, clutched by a chubby, pink, and rather cute critter, glaring from behind the eyeholes of its brightly-painted mask. Surrounding it were dozens of its kind, armed with various other weapons of similar design, and most either wearing masks or wearing feathers or beady, rocky jewelry of sorts, but all of them wearing surprisingly intimidating snarls on their pudgy little faces.

Now it was Violet's turn for her jaw to drop, as all their weapons turned right toward her, their rather painful-looking tips aimed toward every corner of her body (none of them that Violet wouldn't have minded losing).

There was yet another, longer, much more stiff pause, choking the atmosphere.

Violet was the one to break it.

"Well, piss."

--

**Twenty Minutes Later…**

"'Oh, they're just Clefairies'."

"Shut up."

"'The Cabbage Patch Kids of Kanto.'"

"Shut UP, Violet."

"Guys, I REALLY hate to be the one to say I told you so, but…"

Sitting away from them, trapped in what appeared to be a crudely-made bird cage, dangling from a conveniently hook-shaped stalactite, Eko folded her wings and frowned at them. "…I told you so." Then she plopped down on her rear and pouted, grumpily sticking out her purple, plump tongue at the two.

Beneath her, both Jax and Violet glowered up at her from their prison—a dome-shaped cage, made of rock and sealed with concrete-like secretion (likely the same that Eko had used from her recently-confiscated slingshot) on the diamond-shaped joints—unamused scowls on their faces. They only glared at Eko for a second before they turned on each other again.

"Look who's talking, Little Miss Hypocrite," Jax growled, slumped in an unhappy, sloppy, sitting position on the rocky floor against the bars, which he had given up on trying to melt with his fire breath around fifteen minutes ago, "You were the one who was all," he started waving his hands, pantomiming Violet's voice, "'Even if there's a whole colony of them, we can still win…'"

He leapt to his feet and balled his claws into fists, snapping, "TOO BLOODY BAD A DAMN COLONY OF THEM WERE THE ONES THAT CAPTURED US, THEN."

"Heroes, heroes, calm down!" Eko begged them, clutching the delicate bars of her cage, "We shouldn't turn on each other! We need to organize an escape plan before they return and free Rikki and Zeeg!"

"You're right," Jax conceded, sighing, "But what do we do? I can't melt stone. They fortified it with something…" he rubbed his chin, giving the bars in question a spiteful glance out of the corners of his eyes, "They're smart little bastards," he forcefully accepted, squeezing one of the rough, bumpy bars with the whitened palm of his hand, hoping dearly that it would just snap like a toothpick after succumbing to the purely heart-freezing glare in his eyes.

"I told you," Eko re-enforced.

Violet, however, remained uncharacteristically quiet, still huddled in her little half of the cage (which was determined by a long line cleaved in the dirt, indicating which half of the cage was Jax's and which one was Violet's during their later spats) with arms folded and a pout on her round little face. "A plan, huh…?" she muttered under her breath, prodding at a glittery little rock.

Seconds passed in silence.

Then Violet snapped her fingers, and grinned maniacally from behind a shaggy curtain of curled, poky beryl, "I have an idea, guys!" she declared, thrusting her index finger triumphantly in the air, "We'll be out of here in no time!"

"We're doomed," a certain Charmeleon said automatically.

--

**Ten Minutes Later…**

"Alright, here's the diagram," Violet said, pointing to a rather sloppily-drawn series of circles, lines, and other random shapes sketched on a torn piece of lined paper, "Eko, you're the 'X'," she poked at an 'X' imprisoned within a rectangle with the tip of her finger, before moving it to the circular one. "I'm the 'O'."

She then scuffed her finger against something next to the 'O'. "Jax, you're the penny because my pencil broke. Do you all get my plan, everyone?" she leaned away from the map, folding her arms smugly.

"Violet…" Eko started from her cage, "I don't think we can rearrange our molecules to disguise ourselves as Clefairies."

"Oh," Violet said disappointedly, pouting again at the most likely inaccurate, rambling calculations written on the back of the page, "Then we can always go with plan B."

"I'm NOT going to seduce the Clefairies by belly dancing, Violet," Jax said coldly, a stiffly frigid expression on his unamused, reptilian face.

Eko raised her wing enthusiastically. "I like that plan!" she said cheerfully, but that was no surprise, considering the amount of thinly-veiled come-ons she had exhausted on Jax earlier in their trek.

But before any of them could decide, the squeaky sound of the stone door of their cage opening interrupted their chatter, all heads quickly jerking toward the dark shape standing between the primitive doorframe, flanked by two, spear-wielding, mask-wearing guards.

"Alright, all of you," the Clefairy said, withdrawing an iron key from the lock on the door and twirling it on its ring, "Get out."

Violet's eyes lit up hopefully. "You're letting us go?" she asked, but the Clefairy snickered.

"Dream on, kid," he said tauntingly, but then his voice dropped down stoically, "You're merely going out to meet…" after that pause, he froze briefly, looked back and forth between his comrades, as though inspecting them for any signs of reverent fear (which there was plenty, behind their wooden masks), before continuing in a low, whispering hiss. "…_him."_

A lightning bolt would've dramatically struck that area if they weren't in a cave, and if there was actually a thunderstorm nearby.

Eko gasped. Violet gasped. But Jax just stared, perking his eyebrow. "'Him'?" he repeated incredulously, "Who's 'him'?"

There was no response, other than the mad cackling of the three Clefairies.

Once more, there would've been a lightning bolt, but the convenient rumbling of the stalactites above sufficed.

Violet gulped.

--

**Two Minutes Later…**

**  
**Yet again, the crunching of footsteps rung in the air, crunching and cracking with heaviness and light pattering, feet moving swiftly and carefully over the almost regally arranged pathway of gems and flat stones. Along the walls, purple lights and blue shadows twisted with the torches, lit with cerulean flame flickering atop tiny coals of jewels, highlighting the marching silhouettes trudging down the corridors, and curving over hair and fur alike, mingling with the orange light of Jax's tail flame.

And somewhere ahead of the group, spear pointed to her back, Violet started to complain.

"I'm hungry."

"Silence," a Clefairy snapped, poking at her with his spear. "You'll get no food."

Violet would've continued, if she weren't silenced by another jab to the nape of her neck with the spear behind her. Instead, she just folded her arms, and for the umpteenth time that day, pouted, while at her side, an unfazed Jax just walked along with the two guards pressed against him.

"Clefairies. We got captured by Clefairies," Jax groaned to himself, rubbing his temple irritably, "Oak'll kill himself laughing if he hears this…"

Eko would've been walking too if she weren't still contained in the cage from before, as they wouldn't risk allowing her loose, when she could easily fly away. "'Least you won't be the laughingstock of over two hundred Zubats," she whined, "God, my mum'll have my head…" for emphasis, she buried her head in her wings shamefully.

When she couldn't complain, instead, Violet decided to make conversation with her captors.

"Soooo…" she shuffled her feet, kicking away a few pebbles, "Who's this 'Him', anyway?"

None of the Clefairies answered at first, but one of them was prompted by a soft sniffle as Violet rubbed her nose against the back of her hand and glanced away, a bored look on her face. "'Him' is our Master and God," explained the Clefairy without any hint of emotion, wringing his bladed staff, "He reigns high and mighty over our mountain and all creation."

"You don't say," Violet murmured, but sounded too distracted to be sincere.

Regardless, the Clefairy continued, his gruff voice dipping down into reverence. "You should be proud to be graced by his presence, human girl."

"Uh huh," Violet said, playing with a tiny stone she had picked up earlier.

"Not many people get to be executed by the king himself."

"Oh, really—" Violet began, but her voice caught in her throat at the last minute with a startled, rasping gag. She stopped in the middle of her walk, the group behind her skidding to a halt instantly, the spear jarring up and slipping away from her—she was too shocked to notice the lapse in defense, because she had turned around toward the chatterbox Clefairy in an instant. "WHAT?!?!"

Eko echoed the girl's movements, whirling around to clutch at the bars and yowl, "Wait, WHAT?!?!" When there was no clarification, she once more burst out into worried ramblings, "BUT I'M TOO YOUNG TO DIE! I HAVEN'T HAD MY FIRST KISS, MY DRIVER'S LISENCE, OR MY FIRST DATE WHICH-WILL-END-UP-BEING-A-JACKASS-AND-TRY-TO-GROPE-ME-IN-THE-MIDDLE-OF-A-ROMANTIC-MOMENT! LET ME OUT, FOR GOD'S SAKE!" she started rattling the bars, nearly banging her head against it, "LET ME OUT!"

"What else did you THINK you were going there for?" the Clefairy asked, setting one paw on his hip, "Going to have a nice little chat? A tea party?"

Violet sniffled again, because she knew the emergency tea bags in her backpack had gone to waste.

--

At the end of the tunnel was an enormous chamber, filled with pillars of pure crystal, lined with rings of torches, burning bright and brilliant with blues, purples, and reds, casting colorful spades along the reflecting rocks, bouncing them around and illuminating the whole area. It almost resembled some sort of stadium, as it was filled with nest-like chairs, or even little towers and banisters like in opera theaters, where Clefairies of all shapes and sizes were perched. Draped along the ground, framed by glowing crystals, was a long pathway of red pavement, sloped forward and toward the long walk at the far end of the room, where the roof gave way to the star-struck sky of velvet black.

As Violet, who was several shades paler than her natural, brown skin color, Jax, and Eko, who was still being carried by her guard, walked slowly down the path, they began to think to themselves, exchanging worried and overwhelmingly forlorn glances.

"Well guys," Violet said quietly, despite the cacophonous chattering of the hundreds of Clefairies assembled around them, "Seems we've reached the last few moments of our lives."

Eko sobbed a few feet away from her, looking toward a still, shockingly aloof Jax, who was still rather numb to the increased number of spears pointed at him and his partners. "And only for a few hours have I known you all," she whined, "I only regret that I had but one life to give to my colony…"

"Wow," Jax said to himself, "From the moment I actually went on this sordid journey I knew I was doomed from the start, but I had no idea it was from those damn Clefairies."

"I just want to let you all know…" Violet said morosely, overcome by sobs and sniffles for a moment, but she managed to continue when she rubbed away one final, fat drop from the corner of her eyes with her tiger-striped sleeves, "That Eko…"

She looked to Eko, then pointed to her moptop head, "I think your hair is cute."

Then she moved to Jax. "And Jax…" she began in a rather sympathetic tone, but unsurprisingly took on a very bland tone with the next few words. "I think you're a bastard."

"Love you too, bitch," Jax responded in dim monotone.

"That's enough!" one of the guards behind them, one of the largest Clefairies, wearing a crown of colorful feathers and holding a highly ornate spear, "We have approached the throne. All hail the mighty God of the Moonstone, the Lord of Creation."

The same phrase was repeated in a thunderous, unison boom around the chamber, except for Jax, Violet, and Eko, who just shuffled and plugged their ears so to endure the rather head-wracking sound.

Before them was an immense throne, surrounded by a high arch of baroquely-carved stone, bedecked with stones of ruby, emerald, topaz, all arranged in a wide rainbow of jewels. Sitting on the throne, nestled atop a poorly-woven, patch-covered pillow, was a slim, yellow figure, its face and most of its front covered with a mask too big for its face, and much more decorated than the ones worn by the lesser warriors. The band that held it was knotted a few times with ceremonial beads of some sort, rather gaudy, brightly-colored ones—the mask was apparently too big for the person wearing it, and they needed to keep it on the best they could. Through the slender eyeholes, Violet could see the blood-red spark of the leader's eyes as it peered at the person sitting on a smaller chair at its side, surveying her acutely, carefully…

"Got any twos?" a rather thin, rasping voice asked, echoing behind the mask, as its gaze shifted down to the stack of cards tilted up toward it with the help of an oddly-fashioned, rocky device of some sort, as its arrowed hands were unable to properly hold them.

"Go fish," the Pikachu next to it said proudly, as the leader cursed faintly and expertly scooped up a card from the pile on the table in between their chairs with the tip of its arrow-like claws. "Got any twos?"

"Go fish. Got any twos?"

"Go fish. Got any—"

"RIKKI?!?!"

Clear, hazel eyes swiveled toward the girl, simultaneous to the subtle movement of the leader's carmine eyes through its mask, widening as they locked onto the familiar figure. "VIOLET!" the Pikachu vociferated energetically, dropping the cards on the table in a helter-skelter heap, "You're ALIVE!"

"YOU'RE alive!" Violet shouted, running away from the nonplussed guards and toward the Pikachu, sweeping her off the ground and squeezing her tightly toward her (much to her dismay), "Oh my GOD, you're alive! You're okay! What happened to you? Did they do anything to you? Did they—"

"Hey hey hey, calm down," Rikki muttered, managing to slip out of Violet's arms, "I'm fine! This place is GREAT!" she said merrily, gesticulating to the many Clefairies around her, finishing off the movement by counting off the heads of the guards, who still remained next to the other two captives, "Seriously, they're awesome! They've got cool masks, they know how to party, and look!" She snatched an apple-looking, flourescent object from a ceramic bowl on the table, piled high with exotic-looking fruit, and took a bite into it before continuing with her mouth full of sweets. "See? Free food." She took another bite. "They really need Churros, though…"

"So you're NOT being tortured?" Eko asked in shock, her ears perking hopefully.

"Unless you count this guy cheating in Go Fish all the time," Rikki mumbled bitterly, pointing to the unidentified Pokemon beside her, while remaining all the more unaware of her hypocrisy. "Can't stop talking though. Motormouth… and the jerk won't stop hitting on me."

If she had anything else to complain about on her mind, it probably dissolved when the beforementioned motormouth surprisingly leapt to its feet, nearly sending its own cards flying.

"VIOLET!" its voice resonated through the mask blissfully, "It's you! Holy hell, what're you doing here! I didn't think I would see you again!" It leapt down from its throne unceremoniously, much to the surprise of all of the Clefairies in the area, some of which began to mutter amongst each other.

"Uh?" Violet looked down at the creature, then gave Jax a confused look, who just shrugged and stared at the mask-wearing creature. "Who're you?"

Violet would've assumed the Pokemon looked taken aback from behind the mask, judging by the tone in its voice. "What, you don't recognize me?" it asked, what looked like antennae pricking from behind the tip of the mask.

Violet shook her head.

"Come on, Violet," the creature said, dipping its nail-like appendages behind the rim of the mask and scooping it back, letting it tumble back, revealing the creature behind it, the band falling along its scrawny upper torso. "How couldja forget this gorgeous face, huh?"

Inches of yellow, bands of black, and glossy wings started to peel from its disguise, a long stinger flexing from a bulging lower half and its spidery limbs quickly adjusting the strap of the mask so it crossed diagonally across its chest, keeping it firmly against its back. Red eyes blinked, peering genially over a wildly ardent, toothy grin, baring right into Violet's mismatched ones.

The face of a Beedrill peered up to her, crimson, elongated triangles of paint accenting the underline of his eyes, the same kind of paint whorled in tribal patterns of triangles, suns, or other imagery along the bridge of his nose, his chest, the tips of his anteannae, and his spindly arms. A toothy grin stretched his bug-like muzzle, spreading the little stripes coiled on his cheeks off to the side, as it took a step back and spread his arms.

"It's me," he repeated, that lopsided smirk still on his face, "Zeeg!"

The longest pause in the whole chapter chilled the air, petrifying the whole populace huddled in the chamber, save for the twitching of Jax's face, the slight jerking in the tilt of Rikki's mouth, and the almost invisible struggle of Violet's eyelids as she strained to keep them perpetually open, to look down at the still expectant Beedrill. Eko probably would've fallen over if she weren't captured in the same frame as the rest of them.

The cricket that was supposed to chirp was frozen stiff.

The wall of silence was broken by Violet, once more.

"ZEEG!" Violet's happy cry tore from her mouth, a smile too broad for her whole face to hold spreading along her lips and touching the lobes of her pricked ears.

There was a scrambling lunge between Beedrill and girl as they leapt for each other, arms wrapping along each other, laughs pealing from their mouths as Violet danced around, pulling the long-missing Pokemon tightly to her. Jax, Rikki, and Eko were left thunderstruck, their jaws hitting the floor, and all the Clefairy guards looking at each other uncomfortably as the two celebrated jovially. It was inevitable, however, that something were to interrupt it—in this case one of the many astonished Clefairies.

"Uh, excuse me, Lord…" the Clefairy stopped to remember the Beedrill's declared name, before continuing, "…Zeeg. You KNOW this intruder?"

"Know her?" Zeeg asked incredulously, pulling away from Violet slightly, "KNOW HER?" He slipped from Violet's arms, the beaming girl stepping back so Zeeg could address the confused mass. Pointing to Violet with the tip of his cone-like needle arm, he explained, "I've been traveling with this girl for weeks before I hatched!"

Everyone stared confusedly at him.

"I was their leader," Zeeg finished confidently.

"Ohh," the head Clefairy murmured, nodding amidst his comrades, who all returned the understanding gesture.

Suddenly, he sniffled, and his eyes seemed to swell with watery walls of tears as he looked to Violet appreciatively. "You were the only one who ever listened to me as a Kakuna," he blubbered, once again embracing Violet's lower half, since he was too short to reach the rest, and then just completely burst into pathetically loud sobs.

Violet's own eyes began to enlarge, glistening with unrestrained tears of joy. "Aww, Zeeg," she said, scooping him up soothingly and cuddling him, "I don't get why those other guys in the Viridian Forest never listened to you, you're such a great conversationalist…" ((**Author's Interruption:** Check the note at the bottom about this little, exact clip. Thank you.))

Finally, Eko took that moment to fall over onto the floor of her cage. Jax would've followed her, but instead he just slumped, staring at Zeeg with broadened, shocked eyes. "I can't believe I'm hearing this," he muttered to himself, but his ears didn't deceive him, no matter how many times he tried to clean it of earwax. "Am I going crazy? Because I can't possibly be hearing this."

Rikki seemed to think the same thing, because all she could do was twitch.

Violet, however, didn't seem to give a damn as she separated Zeeg from her body, holding him up to direct eye-contact. "How—" she stopped in mid-sentence, being too overwhelmed by her own excitement to keep herself from stammering, "Oh my GOD, how did you end up being some kind of king, huh? We thought you were-"

Eko took the opportunity to finish her sentence, "We thought you were being tortured!" she said fervently, looking overjoyed that her fears had been proved wrong.

"'Tortured'?" Zeeg echoed, his antennae quirked. "No no no. It's crazy. These guys stole my shell a while back, yanno?"

"Uh-huh," Jax said, still dumbstruck by this sudden turn of events.

"Well, they brought me here, and they started to treat me like a king for God-knows-what-reason," he pointed to the lavishly designed throne behind him, stockpiled with pillows and flanked with gemstones and the bowls of unusual fruit, "On second thought, I can see why. Who wouldn't want to worship a drop-dead sexy guy like me?"

"When you're done rubbing your ego," Jax interrupted him curtly, "Think you can actually get straight to the point?"

Zeeg scowled at him, nursing his bruised ego. "Jeez. Hardass," he mumbled, then shook it off. "But yeah, as I was saying, when I woke up, they were all bowing to me and saying I was a god of some sort… the whole worship shit."

"Oh God. Now we have an egomaniac on our hands," Jax muttered out of the corner of his mouth.

"Waitwaitwait," Violet said, interrupting Zeeg's story with a look of incredulity on her face, "They're calling you a god and you have no idea why?"

"I believe I can answer that," the Clefairy that had been guarding them from behind said, clearing his throat. "A long time ago, before we Clefairies settled in this mountain—"

Eko coughed, sounding suspiciously like she was choking out a raspy and poorly-concealed "stole".

The Clefairy didn't seem to notice, as he resumed his tangent. "We had lived in seclusion in a faraway valley, at the mercy of the many predators that happened by. If we had stayed there, the population of our species would've dwindled down to the hundreds."

Jax looked unmoved.

"But then, our prayers were answered, and a great, glowing insect led us away from that wretched place and brought us here to this mountain—" he turned around, gesturing with his spear with spread arms to the glorious chamber, "For us to stay. Then he vanished, saying that in time, he would return in the body of a mortal in one hundred years, so long as we built a statue in his likeness…"

"A statue?" Violet asked, still very confused.

"Over there," the Clefairy said, pointing his spear toward an enormous figure mounted atop a bejeweled altar.

It was made of sparkling amber, carefully chiseled into articulate, jagged lines and divots, looming over the many Clefairies from almost one hundred feet tall. Its almond-shaped eyes were set with glowing rubies, and the blades of its rocky body were accented with thin obsidian, marking its many stripes and zig-zags, as the frames of its large, wiry wings were adorned with gossamer crystal, the same gem making up its bladed arms. The many beams of light in the room made it shine like a colossal lantern, rainbows slipping down its curvaceous form and streaking past the many carvings, making the myriad jewels shine in response to the luminescence.

After further inspection, it looked exactly like a Beedrill, and a carbon copy of Zeeg.

"Ohhh…" Violet murmured, her eyes shifting back to Zeeg, "So that's why."

"Kind of a cliché turn of events, isn't it?" Jax mused to himself, while Rikki bobbed her head in agreement.

Violet didn't think it was her place to complain, for once, as she twisted her head to the guard. Jax mimicked the movement. "So you think that Zeeg's your god because of a statue?" he asked, tilting an eyebrow, "There are countless Beedrills on this planet that look JUST LIKE THAT, and not once did I see one that held ANY holy, omnipotent power, unless you count some monotonous buzzing and this insane urge to kill anything on sight that. We even almost got killed by a whole pack of them."

"Oh, but he IS him," the Clefairy insisted, "Ever since he hatched, nothing but fortune has fallen upon us. For example, despite the recent invasion of those strange, black-wearing men, we remain unharmed." He folded one pudgy finger, then spread another, pointing to it, "And their presence insured the ejection of our long-time enemies from what is rightfully ours."

Eko coughed again, this time sounding like a much more audible "bullshit", in response to the mention of her colony.

"But how long are you planning on keeping him?" Violet asked, still cradling Zeeg in her arms, "I mean… well…" she stumbled for the words for a moment, pursing her lips, "What if he ISN'T immortal?"

"Nonono," the Clefairy explained jovially, "So long as Master remains with us in this sacred place, he will gradually regain the almighty powers that were smothered in his incarceration in that shell. As he remains in our custody, nothing but peace and prosperty will be granted to us, as his leave would be a terrible, terrible agony to be inflicted on us, and can even send the very foundations of our clan to oblivion!"

Violet, Jax, Rikki, and Zeeg exchanged numb glances.

--

**2.5 Seconds Later…**

They had sprinted off with little more than a cry of "RUN!", their bodies a multi-colored blur of blue, orange, and two shades of yellow, one hovering and one walking. The splintered remains of Eko's cage rolled behind the crowd of horrified Clefaries, each one frozen in a minute's worth of wide-eyed, stricken awe as their would-be, condemned prisoners raced off with the abducted Beedrill. The footsteps pounded in the air over many scrambling Clefairies and hysteric shouts, just as the tension snapped and pandemonium raged.

"What the hell—" one Clefairy started, blinking behind the rectangular eyeholes of his mask.

"Oh, bloody hell," another one said, eyes carefully following the path of the group from between the flanking rows of the chairs, each one housing a gasping or appalled Clefairy.

"THEY'RE KIDNAPPING OUR LEADER!" the leader of the Clefairies was the first to snap out of his stupor, and the first to snatch up his weapon and raise it, the light sliding down the bumps and ridges of the crystalline arrowhead. "WARRIORS! BRETHREN! _TO BATTLE!"_

There was no hesitation, just panic and rage, the brutal shouts of many a Clefairy splitting the cold air like a million, angry knives. The Clefairies all groped at their sides, hoisting weapons of various types up—swords, spears, knives, bows, all made of wood and rock and crystal mortar—beady eyes narrowed in bloodthirsty rage from masks, tribal paints, and crowns of feathers. "SEIZE THEM!" the shriek of the leader of the guards shouted as they barreled through the throbbing crowd, weapons liftedand at the ready. "-KILL THEM ALL!- THEY'LL PAY DEARLY FOR THIS! _THEY'LL –ROT- FOR THIS_!"

Violet's hair flapped like a stout, ragged banner in the sharp air as she rocketed at the head of her group, Rikki at her heels and Jax behind her, his flame just a streak of writhing orange and red, crowning the tail of his carmine-blurred frame. Eko gripped and scrambled along Violet's backpack, trying her best to keep hold of it lest she be sent catapulting into the crowd. Her mouth opened in a terrified scream as paws reached for them from all directions, some pink figures leaping before them with their weapons pointed at them.

"KEEP RUNNING, GUYS!" Violet shrieked, eyes wide, "DON'T LOOK BACK! JUST KEEP RUNNING—"

And so they did. The Clefairies, just before they charged, suddenly yelped as the group sped through them, sending their bodies sprawling like fallen bowling pins, cluttering the halls and nearly being stepped on by raging stragglers. The more Clefairies that tried to block them, the more that they were blasted away, either from the unrestricted shots of lightning launching from Rikki's body and the flying zigzags of Jax's hastily executed fireballs, their fighting abilities' liberties granted to them without the scrutiny of the guards.

Zeeg's wings twitched instinctually at his side with a shrill buzz as he shook, mouth spread wide in a strangled scream as another Clefairy ducked to avoid a spear of lightning lancing through the air, then nearly got squished by a crowd that clumsily split to dodge a flaming plume of Ember. Once or twice a paw grazed his side before they were stabbed at with his flailing claws, or elbowed by Violet or rammed into by Jax's hide, knocking away many a potential 'savior' with graceless might. Violet leapt through the air, bounding over another cluster of fallen Clefairies, as the large, intricate double doors at the entrance spread before them. Victory was only a few seconds away—

"Close the doors!" another Clefairy's voice shouted over the clamoring mob, voice rising, "Make sure that they don't step a FOOT out of this hall!"

Two crystals, mounted on long, jewel-encrusted pillars, gave a violent spark in their amethyst centers, almost like they had detected the sound of their master. There was another flash from them, one of bright red, and the doors creaked once, the joints whirring into place, and they started to close with fearful speed, picking up with every second as they, with almost sentient minds, realized the urgency of the situation. The reaction of the doors was nearly enough to make Violet screech to a halt and stare hopelessly at it, waiting for the moment it would shut and leave them to their doom.

This was not an option though.

So when she couldn't stop, she could only move faster.

Her sandals nearly slipped off as she almost staggered in the middle of a kick away from the ground, elevating her speed from the frantic movement of her legs and the scattering of many disturbed pebbles. Her backpack bounced and jostled with every hop, skip, and jump, the many keychains jingling and whipping on their ropes into the air.

"RUN FASTER, GUYS!" Violet shouted, squeezing Zeeg so tightly that he groaned and squirmed in her grip, kicking and wiggling in her grip. "THEY'RE ALMOST SHUT!"

"HEY, watch where you're squeezing!" he squeaked, growling and batting the air with a spear-like hand, his piercing glare ignored by a highly-distracted Violet.

The light peeking through the halls that leaked from the many, eldritch torches lining the walls of the corridors had started to vanish as the doors almost neared their reunion, only prompting for them to speed away with all the leg muscle they could, making them sprint by Clefairies like quicksilver blurs. Violet felt her legs start to ache and her muscles strain, fatigue pressing down on her like a cloud of lead, but against her body's will she kept moving forward, forward, the gap between the doors fading away by the second…

"HA!" Eko said from behind them, leering boastfully at the groups from where she was latched to Violet's backpack. "YOU SEE THAT, YOU STUPID LITTLE MOUNTAIN-STEALING JERKFACES?! YOU SEE THAT?!" In spite of her utter fear, she kept going, ranting and raving like there was no tomorrow (which was a possibility), a look of insanity twisting her gaping mouth, "YOU'RE ALL JUST _BITTER BECAUSE TY REFUSED TO ACCEPT YOU AS THE NEWEST BATCH OF BEANIE BABIES_!"

A good many of the Clefairies froze in their tracks, staring blankly at her with little more than a culminated mess of high-pitched gasps, as a few unaffected dashed past them. There was a tiny, offended sniffle in the back of the crowd, which sounded like, "She saw right through me."

The rest, however, just looked even more enraged, fueling them on as they released embittered battlecries and kicked themselves into high gear, bringing themselves even closer to their prey.

"Oh, NICE GOING, Eko—" Jax started, but he didn't have much time to chew her out, as he felt the fingers of a Clefairy brush dangerously close to his tail, enough to make shivers run up his spine, and make him nearly race right past the whole group.

Rikki dashed past Violet for a moment, her little legs padding behind her slickly, with a heaving Jax at her heels. They were within reaching distance of the doors, with only a few feet left before they were trapped, and in a desperate move, Violet hunched her legs in for only a minute, before she leapt forward, Eko nearly sent flying from the quick, forced movement of her body.

She landed in the shadows of the doors as Rikki streaked in after her, Jax tumbling behind the Pikachu just as his tail lashed away the grabbing paw of a particularly miffed Clefairy. They rolled and they stumbled, Jax collapsing to the ground chest-first in an ungraceful attempt to stop and steady to himself, as Rikki fell onto her back with a final, weary jolt of lightning, a few feet away from him, gasping and panting.

The doors at last slammed shut in front of a sea of grabbing pink paws and waving weaponry, immersing them in flowing darkness, and separating them at long last from their pursuers, leaving them with only the flames around them, and the purple shadows for company.

There was a pregnant silence, broken only by the uncontrollable sounds of the many gasping from the trembling, struggling team members, Zeeg rolling out of a slumping Violet's arms, and Eko jumping out of the way as her body finally hit the ground.

She remained in silence for a moment, before she started to giggle, the merry sound escalating into triumphant, booming laughter. From behind her, Rikki began to snicker, thrusting her sweat-soaked arm into the air, as Jax stared at them like they were crazy, but with a tiny smirk teasing the edges of his sanguine muzzle.

"We did it…" Violet said breathlessly, managing to force her body up just an inch enough, but enough to grab Zeeg around the waist and pull him into another, boisterous hug, uncontrollable guffaws and wheezes tangling over each other to the point her voice was almost strangled. "We DID IT."

She broke out into fits of laughter as well, but managed to regain some amount of dignity before she resumed her tirade, pointing at the door and shouting at the top of your lungs, "HA! STINKING CLEFAIRIES NEVER SAW IT COMING!" she turned around, spreading her wings toward them with a maniacal grin on her sweaty face, "God, you guys are AWESOME! I KNEW I could count on all of you!"

"As if it weren't obvious from the beginning," Rikki said smugly, examining her nails with an almost cattish arrogance, while Jax just rolled his eyes and puffed out one last breath, his chest quaking with each inhalation.

"First, we find Zeeg being worshipped like a god. Next, we manage to escape through conveniently closing doors," Jax said idly to himself, rubbing at his scalp, "Is my life full of clichés or what…?" However, this didn't matter to him in a moment, as he was starting to appreciate the fact he was alive and/or not maimed, and quickly returned to just shaking his head and massaging his temples.

Violet was deaf to all of them as she pulled Zeeg away from her at a moment, looking at the brightly-painted Beedrill with a relieved, exhausted look in her mismatched eyes, "It's good to have ya back, Zeeg," she said, squeezing him so tightly that once more, he nearly jerked again, legs stretching out like rubber instinctually, only to flop down with surprising relaxation.

"It's good t' be back, guys," he said almost wistfully through a cackling simper, "I missed the lot of you jerks…"

"Awww…" Violet cooed appreciatively, hugging him one last time with all the force she could muster, her hands gripping the mask still strapped to his back, "I missed you too, Zeeg."

"I hate to break up the party, guys," Eko's voice said behind her, wings on her casually tilted hips, "But now that we have Zeeg with us, didn't you say you would help me?"

"Oh yeah, right!" Rikki said, climbing to her feet and wiping some sweat away from beneath her tousled, askew bangs, "Now that we have that little 'adventure' outta the way, we can get down to the good stuff—" she rubbed her hands greedily, grinning evilly, "Such as humiliating Rockets."

Jax joined her on his feet, straightening his spine and turning his neck to the side so he could rub at it gently, "We'd better be off on our way," he agreed. "I want to get out of this place as soon as possible."

"Right, right," Zeeg said idly, leaping out of Violet's arms and adjusting the mask on his back casually, "Hold yer horses, I'll come with you guys. After all, what would you shmucks do without me, huh?" He grinned lecherously again, much to Jax's annoyance.

"Whatever," Rikki said, stretching her arms high over her head, "Come on, let's go," she said impatiently, "Let's get this over with, guys."

"Right behind you," Eko said cheerfully, gliding up to perch atop Jax's head once more, pointing off ahead with the tip of one of her dramatically-thrust wings. "ONWARD!"

"ONWARD!" Rikki crowed, joining Eko in pointing forward.

"Oh God," Jax muttered.

Then Violet's voice, after a short, expectant pause, spoke up haltingly.

"I forgot my hat."

**To Be Continued:**

**--**

**Author's Note: **I'm bet you're all glad this is over. This concludes the Great Kakuna Rescue arc, which is a relief on my part because I got a few things planned for the rest of the Mount Moon saga. But enough of that, this is the stuff that's important.

Right, appreciation first. The man responsible for the comment about Zeeg implying that he could actually talk was a hilarious joke by my boyfriend, Agz, which I asked him if I could use. I figured I would give him credit where credit is due—so all of you clap your hands for him! Give him a round of applause for his genius! Also, the whole line 'I'm inventing, mostly' is a reference to one of the Wallace and Gromit clips, which I'm insane over. Also, the 'Tiny dancer' line was from one of Elton John's songs. I couldn't resist.

Now for this. I realize there were a few religious parodies in this, and I am using this blog to apologize to those who were offended by this. I want to make it clear that I would never write something used to demean anyone's religion, even if I disagree with it, or preach to all of you. And after all, this was just used in jest, and it was more of a parody to the whole 'was worshipped by tribal people as a god' shtick. Cliches can be so tantalizing.

Peace, folks. Please don't kill me for the length of this chapter. XD

-**K**eaton the **B**lack **J**ackal


	12. The End of the Mount Moon Saga

**Disclaimer:** Still doesn't belong to me. The cast belongs to me, except for Rory, who belongs to Alan G. Zendra. Ho hum.

**Author's Note: **Le sigh… okay, guys, first up… I am so fricking sorry.

As of late, the reason behind my inactivity with this story is not only because of school, but because of the fact I wasn't sure how to carry this chapter along. I know I promised I would start updating regularly like I used to, but to be honest, I've only really planned out the bigger chapters, not the things in between, as unprofessional as this sounds. Coming up with this stuff is hard work, especially when you lack inspiration and are distracted by a million different things.

Thankfully, the idea came to me a little bit ago, and I decided I should put this down on paper NOW, before I ended up drifting off again.

Once more, I'm so, so sorry, guys.

Here it is: the conclusion to the Mount Moon saga. 'Bout time… I was getting tired with this damn thing, especially since it's so damn long… and there's more drama than humor this time around, and the F-Bomb WILL be dropped. Then again, if you've made it this far through the story without any complaints, you probably won't really care.

Oh well. I'm better at drama than at humor anyway. Still, the funnies shall return in the next chapter. But before I get started, time for REVIEW REPLIES! What keeps me sane. Speaking of reviews, I have happened to hit over 30 reviews since my last update, making this my second most reviewed story—and giving it a total of half the reviews my most popular one did. I hope that by the end this story is over, it'll hit over 100 reviews. This is my fondest wish for this story, and I get the feeling I might hit that, or at least close to that, since this story might reach over sixty chapters. Pretty exciting, if you ask me.

Once more, guys, I happened to finish drawings of Violet and a Charizard Jax in my Deviantart account. The link is in my profile—go check it out!

Oh, and for those who are curious… I've been working on yet another fanfiction, another PG-13 one known as **All the Pretty Birds**. It's a Soul Calibur III fanfiction, and for those who are interested and don't mind a bit—okay, a LOT—of violence, _**I strongly encourage you to check it out**_If you feel like it, tell me what you think, and offer advice. It's my baby at the moment, and unfortunately, it's been sort of getting in the way of Violet Version. I'll try to alternate between the two, but still… here's the twelfth chapter. Enjoy.

--

"_True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It's not the urge to surpass others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost."_  
**-Arthur Ashe**

**Chapter XII:** The End of the Mount Moon Saga (FINALLY)

"You both are idiots."

Standing before her and shuffling nervously, two men, clad in monotonous black and marked with tainted, red 'R's on their breasts, stared shamefully at the ground to avoid the vicious glare their shadowy superior was giving them. Perched imperiously atop a rock, limber legs folded, a pair of almost disembodied, icy blue eyes glowered at them from the subterfuge of black that cloaked the room, overwhelming the muted glow of the chiseled crystals and stones that coated the interior of Mount Moon. The body, although most silhouetted—showed signs of femininity, in its sheer litheness and its athletic build, as well as the curves and silky fur outlining its form.

"Let's assess the situation, shall we?" the presumably-female figure said casually, climbing to her feet. "Here I was, minding my own business, supervising the diligent working of the more _competent _members of our _esteemed _society."

Long, scimitar-like nails curved unpleasantly as the form straightened herself, as though trying to loom over the other two men cowering before her, despite her obvious height disadvantage. She gestured broadly around her with one grand, sweeping gesture, indicating the many drills which pounded away at the bejeweled walls, making the stalactites above rattle like wind chimes. Pieces of dirt rained from the sky like hailstones, tumbling from every crevice and from the craters tunneled through the walls. Turning her gaze back to the two, awkward-looking Rockets, the creature-woman continued.

"When, here's where the fun part starts!" she said, voice dripping with false jubilance, "Two UNcompetent members of our esteemed society come tumbling in—that's you two guys—screaming and bawling about you getting your asses personally handed to you on a menial patrol mission."

One of the Rockets looked morosely over at his partner, who returned the same, doomed glance. Pleased by their intimidation, the woman rambled, "ONE. MEASLY. PATROL MISSION," she snarled each word out, lifting a bladed finger, "NOT ONLY WITHIN AN HOUR, BUT BECAUSE OF SOME _WANNABE HERO PREPUBESCENT."_

Her voice resonated over the drills as it leapt to a shrill scream, nearly penetrating both the sound barrier and the ears of the hapless Rockets as they shrunk away, guarding their ears from any further bombardment with their hands. As the remnants of the echo died down, the creature-girl stared down at them, face devoid of any amusement.

"Well?" she asked roughly, "No begging? No excuses? You two are NO FUN."

She finally got her wish, as one of the Rockets spoke up in the following second that passed, trying to knock the numbness that had encroached through his head out of his ear. "It wasn't our fault," he whined, sounding more like some petulant child than a member of one of the most feared organizations in Kanto.

"Oh!" exclaimed the woman pleasantly, "But weren't YOU the one who came in with your tail between your legs just a moment ago?"

Frost-white teeth clamped into the Rocket's lower lip, eyes narrowing at her beneath the shadows of his sable, conservative hat. Before he could say anything rash, however, his cohort spoke up for him. "But boss!" he protested, "It wasn't our fault! It was that girl's Pokemon! She couldn't command an ant farm if her life depended on it."

"That's why you two suck so much," the creature pointed out, having tricked them into their own protest.

"That Pikachu was a bitch," the other Rocket mumbled.

"Yeah," said the first, taller one, "God dammit, if I ever got my hands on her—"

Just as the creature spoke up again, the shorter, lankier one interrupted her unintentionally, "Wait! I got it! It's a perfect plan!" he slammed his fist triumphantly in his hand. "We could set up some sort of trap, and we could snatch that Pikachu right from under her nose--"

"For the love of God," the creature snapped, "Haven't we went over this in training?" she rubbed at her temples bitterly, reciting, "'Under no condition must we dedicate every one of our resources into capturing a single Pokemon, as to eliminating the larger threat as a whole.' Haven't you heard of what happened to those other two agents?"

"What?"

"Never mind," the creature sighed, crossing her arms, "Just get out of here and go back to the mines, maybe you two can make yourself useful there."

"But boss," started the tall Rocket, "What about that girl? She could jeopardize our whole mission—"

However, he didn't get the chance to complete his sentence, for the creature's eyes were on him in a split second. "LET'S NOT START THIS AGAIN, YOU MORONS," she roared, smashing her fists with such force that the rock she was perched on cracked, drawing the horrified gulps of her two inferiors, "THIS GIRL IS BY NO MEANS A THREAT, NOR ARE HER LITTLE PATHETIC EXCUSES FOR PARTNERS. A FRICKING _BABY SITTER _IS ALL YOU NEED TO SUBDUE A GIRL OF HER AGE."

"But—" one of them dared to speak up, only to be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the creature's voice as she screeched.

"REPEAT AFTER ME, AND LISTEN VERY CLOSELY. THE MOMENT THESE LITTLE NUISANCES STEP SO MUCH AS IN INCH CLOSE TO THIS SITE, THEY'LL BE DISPATCHED BY OUR OFFICERS. THEY ARE NOT EVEN A THORN IN OUR PROVERBIAL SIDES.

And for the last damn time," she hissed, infuriated, "THEY ARE NOT, BY ANY MEANS, A THREAT!"

--  
…**Meanwhile…**

"Ow."

"Hold STILL."

"You're pulling too hard!"

"Well DUH, that's 'cos it's stuck. Do you want this thing out of you or not, boss--"

"Hey!

Jax glared up from the patch of stones he was staring intently at, his hand drumming a curt, impatient tattoo with the stick he had scavenged from a Paras's nest (the Paras wasn't very happy about this rather insignificant theft, nor was he one for negotiations) on the rock he had claimed as his seat. Sea-green pupils shifted to the sides towards the gangly, insectoid creature sitting somewhere beside him, looking, confused, at the three figures shouting at each other in the corner of the cavern they had taken sanctuary in.

"So, big guy," Zeeg said lazily, "Have any idea how long those three are going to take?"

"Longer than the threshold of my patience, I'm sure," Jax said, carving a rough, thick line in the crude drawing he was sketching in the dirt, "You planning on breaking them up any time soon?"

"ME?" Zeeg pointed to himself defensively, obviously aghast at the suggestion, "Why ME? Aren't you, you know, the babysitter or whatever the heck you do of this group?"

"I never asked for the job," Jax snorted, drawing another line vertically to the one he first created, "All you've done is complain and yak for Lord-knows-how-long, so why don't YOU stop them?"

Zeeg puffed out his chest indignantly, folding his arms. "Well if you didn't want to hear my dirty jokes before, you could've told me," he whimpered, pouting. He, however, didn't need to provoke Jax any longer, as the racket from before finally snapped his patience in two like a rotting toothpick.

"Alright," he snarled, turning his head toward the group with one swift, rigid jerk, "For the last bloody time, do I have to come over there and pry all of you away from each other PERSONALLY, or can we JUST SHUT UP so that way this little escapade of ours doesn't end prematurely thanks to a little stupidity and an angry Rocket?"

There was probably no need to, however, as the hissing and the screaming of the drills screeching down the turn of the rocky corridor almost engulfed their yelling entirely, but most of his command was because of the headache he was getting from both their scuffling, and the construction occurring nearby. Rikki, Eko, and Violet looked up instantly, quickly looking as innocent and apologetic as possible—at least until Rikki finally yanked out the long arrow impaled in Violet's shoulder blade with a loud cry of pain, brandishing it happily.

"AH-HA!" she shouted, "I have it!"

Violet seethed and rubbed the perforation in her back, trying to patch up the tiny slit in her Pikachu-hoodie that had been left by the item.

She, however, didn't complain for long, as she went back to happily cradling her newly-retrieved Panama hat close to her again, purring like a contented kitten.

"Say," Eko said, scrambling down from Violet's head, "Didn't you say you left your hat back in that Clefairy chamber we were in? Where'd you get it again?"

Violet forced an awkward, quivering grin. "Uh…" she scratched behind her ear with one hand, still clutching her hat with the other, as though dead set on keeping it safe from whatever imaginary threat that her mind would've conjured up, "Well…"

--  
…**An Hour Earlier…**

"Brothers and sisters!"

Hundreds of opalescent, shiny black eyes stared up reverently, row after row reacting in a tumultuous wave of wiggling pink. Firelight illuminated every corner of the chamber, beaming from the crowns of many a crystalline pillar, reflecting eerily off of every diamond-encrusted surface almost like an immense chamber of mirrors. Standing high and mighty at the center of this hall was a majesty of a carving: resembling a Beedrill of some kind, forged out of all manner of gemstones.

Standing before a bejeweled throne at the far end of a lithe, red carpet snaking its way along the pebbly floor of the hall was a Clefairy, clad in an ornate wooden mask and waving about a feather-adorned scepter, the colorful plumage wobbling and swaying atop the pole. "We have suffered a great loss recently, one of our beloved God," he invoked, the crowd booing and hissing collectively at the memory of the previous events.

"But we have triumphed regardless of this!" he assured them, holding aloft a badge-covered panama hat, which he laid down on the crystal-bedecked throne beside him. "We have robbed the enemy of her most prized possession—and may this victory bring forth the day when we can rightfully claim what is ours! When we can return our God to the promised land!"

Turning back to the crowd, he thrust his staff into the air, the light catching off of the massive, spherical gemstone wound into the vines of the scepter. "May prosperity and peace reign high and mighty over our kingdom!" he shouted, and, as those final words departed from his mouth, the entire room erupted into uproarious applause.

The chamber reverberated with the intensity of their cheering, rumbling like the roar of a Dragonite as the sound engulfed the once peaceful, yet cramped atmosphere, making sparkling flakes rain down from the pillars sloping high to the dome-like, glass ceiling. Yet, despite all this noise and hoopla, somehow, they were able to catch the diminutive creak as one of the doors slid open, and their loathed enemy—a certain blue-haired girl—slipped into the chamber.

The cheering cut off like a squeaking record as they all turned en masse, staring in abject horror at the little, chubby young girl as she weakly waved, nearly freezing in her tracks from the sensation of having every occupant's beady eyes on her.

"Uh, hi," Violet said to the stunned crowd, edging her way to the throne through the mass of Clefairies. "Excuse me for a moment. Don't move. I'm just here to get something."

Breaking through the crowd, she stumbled ungracefully, trying to balance herself with the frantic gyrations of her arms. When she finally steadied herself, Violet took a deep breath and looked around curiously, eyes scanning the area in search of the blessed treasure she had came for. Scratching behind her head, her gaze at last landed on her beloved hat, draped over the soft, Girafarig-pelt cushion of the throne's seat.

"Ah-ha, there it is," Violet muttered, snatching it off of its perch (much to the unified horror of the stunned murder of Clefairies) and settling it back on her head, tilting it back to its rightful angle.

After securing the hat back to her head by the cord it hung from, she took a deep breath, dusted herself off, and looked back to the silent crowd. "Okay," she said breathlessly, clasping her hands pleasantly together, "NOW you can try and kill me."

And they charged.

--  
…**Present-Time…**

"Ah," Rikki said off-handedly, weighing the befouled arrow in her paw, "So that's where this thing came from."

Violet looked uncomfortably down at the puncture still visible in the layers of fabric of her Wailord undershirt, and her sweatshirt, gingerly prodding at it with the tip of her finger. "Still hurts, too," she whined, but that was all the attention they were going to spend on her.

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen," Zeeg said, gesturing sharply to Jax, who finally parted, triumphant, from his aimless doodling in the ground, "Gather 'round. The big guy here has a plan."

"Oh goody," Rikki said, folding her arms behind her head as she walked dispassionately over towards the Beedrill and Charmeleon. "Now Mister Know-It-All is going to preach to us."

"And 'Mister Know-It-All' happens to have more brains in one body cell than most of you do in your entire bodies," Jax snarled, gesturing sharply to them with the stick he was using.

"'Most' of us?" Violet asked, whispering into Eko's ear from where she sat on her shoulder.

"He's talking about me!" Eko said, pressing her wings together dreamily. If she had eyes, they probably would've been lit up with stars of pure, unadulterated joy. "Oh, he's definitely talking about me. Who else would Jaxxie be talking about?"

"Well, I happen to be the leader, so--" Violet stopped in the middle of her arrogant rant, pausing. She echoed incredulously, "…'Jaxxie'?"

"Oh my GOD," Rikki snickered, paws to her face.

"Oh shit," Jax said numbly. "Just when I thought my grave couldn't be dug any deeper."

"'Jaxxie'?" Zeeg chortled, elbowing Jax harshly (and nearly knocking the Charmeleon over), "Oh, you total pimp, you."

The look on Jax's face would've made a weaker person's skin melt right off of their bones. Jaw tense and teeth grit, he forced out each word cautiously, as though firing out a gunshot with each syllable. "OKAY, UNLESS ANYBODY ELSE WANTS TO ADD ANY NICKNAMES," he said impatiently, "CAN WE _–PLEASE_- GET ON TO THE DAMN PLAN?"

Everybody went dead silent. Violet forced a nod. Rikki managed to swallow one last, choked snicker, and scooted off to the side. Smiling pleasantly, Jax turned back to his carving in the ground. "Good then. Carry on."

It took a tremendous effort for everyone to unlatch themselves from where they were frozen on the ground, but when they surrounded Jax and took their respective seats on whatever they could find (Eko still perched on Violet's shoulder), the Charmeleon began his presentation, gesticulating to the drawing with the stick in his claw. "Alright," he said, his rage momentarily forgotten, "This here is us."

The point of the stick hovered over a group of miscellaneous shapes in the dirt. "The 'X' is Violet."

"Why do I have to be the 'X'?" Violet dared to ask. "Can't I be the star, Jax—"

"NO, YOU CANNOT BE THE STAR," Jax interrupted harshly, silencing the blue-haired youth. "Anyway, as I was saying. The triangles over there…"

The point of the stick moved over towards a pair of crudely drawn squares arranged near spiraling triangles. "…Are the drills." All heads lifted to gaze over beyond the bejeweled wall veiling them, towards the mechanical monstrosities, each one labeled with a hateful red 'R', chipping away at the chiseled, gargantuan craters in the walls.

Jax broke his gaze, and etched a long line between the group, and the poorly-drawn drills. "Now, the furthest drill off to the side has been abandoned by its driver, and most of the Rockets are too busy to see it. We can have, say, Eko fly overhead and search for any patrolling Rockets. She'll give a signal—"

"What kind of signal?" Violet asked again, looking very excited. "Is it a cool one, with flares and battle cries and—"

"NO, IT'LL JUST BE A GESTURE, NOTHING MORE, NOTHING LESS," Jax snapped again. Violet shut up once more, looking oddly cowed. "With the coast clear, Rikki will dart up to the drill and give it a jumpstart with a Thundershock. The Rockets will, surprised by the drill, come up to stop it, giving Rikki enough time to hopefully dart back. Meanwhile, Zeeg will pick at the workings in one of the drills, while I'll handle the next one. Rikki will take control of the final one with Violet, while Eko will continue to alert us about incoming Rockets. With the drills neutralized, we'll then gang up on the Rockets and take them by surprise, dispatching them before they go for their PokeBalls!"

Jax leaned back, arms folded proudly. "It's foolproof," he proclaimed, satisfied with his own brilliant tactics. "That is, if I do say so myself. So, what do you think?"

The dumbfounded stares of everyone in the group were his only answer. Sighing in frustration, Jax chucked the stick over his shoulder and dropped his head in his hands. "I give up," he moaned.

"It won't work."

At the sound of the unfamiliar voice, every head pivoted around excitedly, bristling anxiously. As though anticipating an assault, Rikki's body already started sparking at the sight of the newcomer: a tall, lean figure, bat-like in body structure and its gargantuan wings folded weakly over its chest. Its broad mouth was quirked in a solemn scowl, ears drooped and eyes sunken, likely from days without proper rest.

A split second before anybody could react, Eko scrambled over Violet's head, ears quirked. "Mom?!" she exclaimed, leaping off of her perch and swooping over to the melancholy Golbat.

"'Mom'?" Zeeg repeated, looking confusedly to a befuddled and slightly apprehensive Violet.

Violet merely looked blankly back at Zeeg, eyes shifting in the direction of the reunion, as Eko embraced her mother's lower half, as she was a few feet taller than her, and squeezed her tight. "Mom, what're you doing here? You should be here with the rest of the colony," she protested.

"That's where YOU should be!" the Golbat snapped, making Eko flinch. "Do you realize how worried you made me?! How worried you made the rest of the colony?"

Much to Violet's dismay, Eko barely reacted to her mother's scolding, turning her head away ever so slightly as she rambled on and on. For some reason, Violet was distantly reminded of her own mother—she rarely saw much of her anymore, as she often left town for one business trip or another, but she was nevertheless a dedicated and kind mother outside of her no-nonsense attitude. Despite this similarity, Violet interjected into the tirade, making both heads turn towards her.

"Hey, take it easy on her!" Violet said, settling her freckled hands on her hips. "Where's the rest of your group? We've been all over the mountain and all we've seen are a bunch of Clefairies—"

"WHAT!?" Eko's mother shouted, spinning her daughter back around to face her, "You WENT INTO THE CLEFAIRY TERRITORY?"

"Oh shit," Violet muttered, smacking her forehead. Great. Now she buried Eko in even deeper trouble.

"They didn't stand a chance, Mom," Eko countered, gesturing to the group behind her, "These guys are going to fight the Rockets for us! They drove away a whole group of them, and escaped the Clefairies when they were chasing us."

"Impossible," Eko's mother said dismissively, grabbing her by the wing and turning away from the group, "We're heading back to the Emergency Chamber this instant, and we're going to forget this ever happened."

"Hey," Violet interrupted once more, "What makes you think we can't do it?"

"Violet, don't get involved," Zeeg started, but he was summarily ignored as Violet kept on going, waiting for a reasonable answer.

Eko's mother stopped in the middle of a step, withdrawing her foot and turning around stiffly to face Violet. It was only then that Violet realized, when she was face-to-face with this domineering Pokemon, the extent of her exhaustion: the vestiges of what would become dark, sunken rings had already begun to form beneath her eyes, the fur around it ragged and capped with flakes of crust. Violet nearly silenced herself altogether from the pitiful sight, but remained as stiff as before.

"There are far too many of them," Eko's mother said numbly, still not releasing her squirming daughter, "They came out of nowhere a few weeks ago and attacked all of us, driving us away from our homes and into the depths of the mountains. Those which trailed behind were captured, and shipped back to their leader. You know those police officers? They've retreated. Back to get reinforcements."

"Their leader?" Jax asked from the corner of the chamber.

"I don't know who he is," Eko's mother said, "But I overheard them when I was nearly captured with the rest of them. We and a few others are all that's left… and even now we can barely sleep. Some of our strongest fighters had easily been defeated by their…" she spat out the next word, "'Servants'."

She glanced spitefully towards the rest of the group, who stared, en masse, into her obsidian eyes. "I see you're no better than them, if you have your pets do your dirty work."

Violet was nearly at a loss of words, her mouth agape and her eyes wide as Eko's mother glared at her scornfully, mouth quirked unpleasantly. At the concept of being referred to as a 'pet', many of Violet's other partners reacted similarly: Zeeg glanced, antennae flat, at Rikki, who ground her teeth together and barked out every foul word in her vocabulary.

Jax's eyes narrowed, fangs grit tightly like the steel jaws of a bear trap. "'Pet'…?" he growled, half of his voice permeated with anger, the other disbelief.

"I'm NO PET!" Rikki yelled, pounding her fist into the ground, "Come and say that to my face, you scrawny little she-bitch! I'll rip your freaking face off for that! I'LL—"

Rikki probably would've followed this threat through if it weren't for Zeeg's valiant efforts to restrain her, the Beedrill looping his arms around hers and pulling her back with all of his might. Even when he threw every fiber his scrawny muscles had to offer, the Pikachu still bucked and wriggled in his grip, nearly breaking free once or twice.

"OW! EASY!" Zeeg hissed as he barely managed to weave his head out of the way of an errant shred of electricity, expelled from her pulsating cheeks.

To crown the whole group's reaction off, however, Violet just seemed to be in shock.

But this was only half of the spectrum. Almost instantly, Violet's long-delayed instincts kicked in, her lips curling and her hands balling up into fists, eyes flaring dangerously beneath her blue hair. Behind her mother, Eko was just about to beseechingly plead to her mother not to continue to antagonize them, but she fell silent as she noticed the extent of Violet's rage. Although Eko had only known Violet for half a day, she really doubted she was the sort of person to let such comments sink into her skin.

Every person had a limit. Even the most fun-loving, oblivious ones.

"WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!"

Everyone surrounding Violet froze in place, their expressions still livid, but their eyes cast toward the infuriated girl. Eko's mother remained unaffected even as Eko shrunk back, standing proudly as Violet staggered over her words. "I---You—" Rage finally drove Violet to eject the next few words, teeth bared almost like fangs. "I can't believe you! _HOW could you think that I'm ANYTHING like them!?"_

"I call them as I see them," Eko's mother said, one wing on her hip as she glared up at Violet, ears flattened, "And I see no more than one of the oppressors that's threatening our existence as we speak."

"Then you're one **DUMB** motherfucker."

That was finally what shot Eko's mother down from her high horse. Jaw falling open for a split second, she snarled aloud and barked, "How DARE YOU!"

"I call them as I see them," Violet said smugly, jabbing Eko's mother in the chest with her index finger. "…Bitch."

By this point, Eko's mother was smoldering with barely-contained rage. Releasing a distressed Eko's wing, she stormed up to Violet, slapping away her hand with a fan of her wing. "You snide, wretched little HUMAN!" she howled, spitting out the final word as though it were acid on her tongue, "LEAVE THIS MOUNTAIN! LEAVE THIS MOUNTAIN AND FORGET YOU WERE EVER HERE!"

"Make me, mousey," Violet flashed Eko's mother a sneer that was truly ugly on her typically radiant, adorable face, jerking her opposite thumb toward her own chest.

"THAT'S IT!" Eko shrieked, throwing herself atop her mother and wrapping her wings around her shoulder, making her buckle beneath Eko's weight, "BOTH OF YOU _SHUT UP!"_

Heaving with fury and voice choked, Eko kicked herself off of her mother and snarled, looking into her startled face, "I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU THINK, MOM! These guys are DIFFERENT! They're going to help them, and I'M GOING TO INVENT FOR THEM! I'm going to go with them and see the world! I'm going to fight the Rockets…

"AND I'M GOING TO FIND DAD AND BRING HIM HOME!"

With a flap of her wings, she spiraled into the air, over the group and up with the stalactites, where she sharply turned and glided furiously down the hall. "EKO! NO!" Her mother screamed desperately in hopes of dissuading her daughter, but it was too late. Within seconds, before any of the anger-paralyzed Pokemon (and one human) could interfere, she was gone, having swooped in the direction of the drills.

"SHIT!" Violet cursed.

Rage momentarily forgotten, Eko's mother shouted as Zeeg took to the air, his wings buzzing sibilantly behind him. "EKO, COME BACK! I DIDN'T—"

Despite the fact Violet was only talking to nothing but air, she continued to call out her name, cupping her hands over her mouth as though expecting for her to just turn around and come sailing back to them. Too numb to realize what was happening, Jax dashed past with Rikki, both Pokemon cursing fitfully.

"…I didn't mean to…"

Eyes enlarged, Violet clamped her hands over her mouth as the realization of what happened barreled both into her and her adversary, her head edging in the direction of Eko's dejected mother. Anger was replaced with sobering regret, her mouth beginning to open, as though she were intending to apologize, but it snapped shut a second later—not because she didn't deserve it, but because she realized that there were much more urgent things to do at that moment. Her new friend was in danger, and she had to save her.

"Violet, come on!" Jax's voice snarled from ahead, his tailflame the only visible remnant of his figure, "We need to find her, NOW!"

Jolted out of her reverie, Violet shook her head frantically, lashing her blue bangs about her face. Running her hand down her face so to remove the last traces of numbness, she narrowed her eyes, clenched her fists, and, before leaving, spoke, even as she took her first few steps.

"I'm going after her," Violet said distantly to Eko's mother, the Golbat looking up worriedly at her, "I'm going after her whether you like it or not, and I'm going to save her. I know you don't trust me, and that's fine with me. You don't have a reason to…

"But you're going to have to now. Either you can stand here feeling sorry for yourself," Violet held out a finger, counting off the options on her fingers, "…Or you can do something to help her right now."

With that surprising chunk of un-Violetlike wisdom left for Eko's mother to absorb, Violet sprinted after her Pokemon, rounding the corner and following the same path that Eko herself had traveled down. Thunderstruck, Eko's mother simply watched, her ears wilting like dying roses as the stocky silhouette of the girl soon vanished, much like her own daughter's had.

Five seconds passed in relative silence, save for the wretched working of the drills in their crumbling pockets.

"Sarari, what have you done…?" Eko's mother asked herself, head lowering shamefully.

She--Sarari--slowly forced her head to rise, giving a passing glance to the many, cavernous holes that riddled the walls—nests, hollow and filled with straw bedding, speckling the crystals like pockmarks on the precious stones. Soft, comfortable beds—a luxury that couldn't be afforded in their current hideaway. They were far too frightened, far too worried of their missing brethren's fate and that the same thing would befall them to rest, a fact Maya seemed to acknowledge as she allowed her wing to wander up to one of the rings under her eyes. Yet, despite the memories, despite the promises of sleep and sanctuary, they were long deserted by their occupants to whatever fate awaited them.

Abandoned, like so many things in the mountain.

And, at long last, Sarari wept.

--

Violet and Rikki peered nervously out from behind one of the many boulders that littered the alcove, their eyes—one pair heterochromatic, the other a brilliant shade of hazel—scanning the area. Rows of Rockets patrolled the area, armed with clusters of PokeBalls strapped to their belts, and sporting resolute, hardened expressions—the looks of cold-blooded, manipulative monsters.

_At least they don't have any guns, _Violet thought gratefully, nearly sighing in relief. If that were the case, they wouldn't have stood a chance.

"Well, now what, boss?" Rikki hissed to Violet out of the corner of her mouth. "I don't see Eko anywhere."

"I'm THINKING," Violet snarled, pressing her fingers to her temples almost meditatively.

Maybe they should've listened to Jax's plan after all—the guy WAS the brains of the operation, and impatience would only get them in deeper trouble than they already were. Her own sudden increase of intelligence startled Violet to an extent—usually she was quite the laid-back, sometimes downright stupid person, but apparently with that adrenaline rush came much-needed common sense, something which made her feel slightly uncomfortable.

Wait. Jax. That was IT. Eko must've went to follow Jax's plan. Smiling, satisfied, to herself, Violet pounded her fist into her hand, turning to look at Rikki. "What if she went to the drill?" she whispered, "She could be trying to follow Jax's plan anyway."

Rikki took a moment to consider that prospect, gnawing nervously on one of her sable-painted fingernails. Revelation sinking into her expression, she gazed up at Violet, eyes wide. "Boss," she said, "I never thought I'd say this, but you're a genius. Just, how do we get over there?"

Violet thought again, leaning her head thoughtfully against her fist in a way almost reminiscent to a long-beloved cartoon bear. "Hmmm…" she murmured.

Finally, Violet parted her hands, and admitted, "I don't know," with a bit more cheer than what was really acceptable.

'_Well, that didn't last long,_' Rikki thought, letting her head sink into her greasy, painted paws.

--

"I KNEW this was a bad idea."

Crouched in the shadows of one of the many pillars in the dome-like vicinity, Zeeg grumbled to himself over and over again from behind his safely secured tribal mask—which he hadn't had the heart to dispose of, and likely wouldn't for the rest of his days, along with the tattoos which had remained so stubbornly emblazoned on his lanky body.

"Really Zeeg, you could've just said no," the Beedrill continued to mumble, his carmine, wide eyes darting to and fro in their sockets almost nervously. "You could've just said, 'Violet, I like Eko as much as you do, but we barely know her—hell, I've only known her for an hour or so—and we might as well just forget her and this whole situation, and if you disagree, you can just piss—'"

That was when Zeeg noticed that the area around him seemed to have grown a lot darker as a towering shadow draped over his scrawny, dwarfish form, spreading like a black, ice-cold tapestry. "Huh," he muttered, scratching the back of his head with the tip of his spear-like hand, "Who turned out the lights?"

A loud growl answered his question. Freezing altogether, the utterly petrified and now terrified Beedrill struggled to turn his head with one sharp, jerking movement, pupils pinpricking to the point that his eyes quivered in his head, antennae lying flat back against his head. Looming over him was a Nidoking—an angry, ferocious looking beast, covered from head to toe in purple barbs and spikes jutting out from every stony muscle and plate of armor. Round ears twitched and red eyes appraised the insect for the briefest of moments, just as the creature's mouth started to slide into a coy, maleficent grin.

"Hello, little bug," he rumbled boisterously.

Zeeg screamed.

--

Not too far away, Eko had finally taken roost somewhere on the roof of one of the uninhabited drills, swooping inside as soon as one of the Rockets looked away, and diving beneath the upholstery of the leather chair. Her ears twitched and angled themselves like radio antennae atop her head as she climbed down the machinery, searching for the proper lever.

She didn't care what her mother thought. She knew that her mother wasn't usually so impulsive or offensive, but after her father was kidnapped with the rest of her family, her already xenophobic attitude towards humans had been understandably exacerbated. Too long had Eko seen her weep over the decaying state of their colony. Too long had she spent without her father.

She would find him, no matter what.

"Now, if I were a lever…" Eko muttered, tapping at her crania with the tip of her wing.

Finally, as she scooted past the steering wheel, she at last located the dashboard. Internally rejoicing, she was just about to extend a wing, ready to press the exact button—

--when her brain fully registered the sight before her: the dashboard was utterly COVERED in buttons of all shapes and sizes, from dials to levers, circles to squares, and a fluorescent mishmash of colors that made Eko's head spin.

This was going to be harder than she thought.

--

For Jax, it was much harder to remain stealthy when the tip of his tail was on fire, and constantly emitting a peaceful glow. Keeping it as shielded as possible, he crept in the relative umbrage of the rocks, leaping from shadow to shadow (and nearly stumbling over once or twice) as he evaded the eyes of the other Rockets, some of which were pacing about, others working the drills, while some were just sitting on the rocks and talking.

"…So what did she say to the poor bastard?" one Rocket snickered, juggling his canteen of lemonade in one gloved hand. "Tell me again."

Jax stiffened behind one of the rocks. His ear would've pricked if, well, he actually had one, so instead he kept an acute eye out for the two Rockets perched not too far away. "Oh man, you should've seen the looks on their faces," the second one snickered, taking a bite out of her sandwich. "They were as white as sheets when they came out of the cave. She really tore into them."

'She'? Jax frowned, his eyebrows furrowing together in a narrow divot over his brow. Who the hell was 'she'? He didn't have to wait for too long before this information was divulged, though.

"Well, they were asking for it. I hated those bastards, anyway," the first Rocket shrugged. "Cassandra answered all my prayers."

Jax didn't have time to ponder that name, nor the identity of the person—'Cassandra'—in general, because a split second later, a shrill cry resonated around the sanctum, piercing over the wailing of the drills with its sheer volume. The throngs of Rockets stiffened, heads snapping around toward the direction of the monstrous din, and, much to Jax and Eko's collective horror, Zeeg came barreling out of his hiding spot, a Nidoking chasing behind him on all fours.

"Oh, _shit_," Jax muttered under his breath.

"Oops," Violet said numbly.

"YOU COMPLETE DUMBASS!" Rikki shouted.

Unfortunately, this also attracted the Rockets' attention, as all eyes who weren't preoccupied with Zeeg's antics landed squarely on her and the group, as they all looked on in horror at the nonplussed stares of the Rockets.

Jax, Violet, and Eko glared with such intensity it was almost amazing that Rikki didn't just combust like a stick of dynamite on the spot. The Pikachu's ears fell back, nearly disappearing in the field of her burgundy-stained, oily hair, blush flaring up in her cheeks. Forcing a lopsided grin, she mumbled an earnest, "Oops."

Inching his way back beside the blue-haired girl, Jax leaned in, urgently whispering, "Uh, Violet. Not that I'm suddenly running out of ideas or anything, but…" he bit his lip, sighed, and then forced out, slightly faster than before, "Any ideas?"

Silence, as the drills snapped shut, ceasing the vibrations that rocked the foundations of the chamber, and the roaring of the whirling dervishes.

"…" Violet stood there, frozen in place, until a look of complete, furious resolution took over her features, a finger thrusting out at the groups of Rockets. "ATTACK!!!"

"WHAT?!" Jax blurted.

"Oh, NICE PLAN!" an enthusiastic Rikki laughed, leaping out from her subterfuge and charging, just as the Nidoking screeched to a halt and let out a bellowing roar. Yelping, Zeeg scrambled frantically behind a rock, disappearing from view.

Rikki slammed right into the beast, knocking him over on to his back as the Pikachu clawed and pummeled his face, slapping it back and forth with the force of her punches.

Jax tumbled out from behind the rock, eyes wide as emerald saucers as Violet looked on in satisfaction, snatching a stick from the ground and pointing it to the air. "GO GUYS, GO!" she shrieked over the frenzied shouting of the Rockets, "KICK THEIR ASSES!"

She stopped in the middle of another cheer, however, when she saw that Jax was looking at her in abject horror. "…Well?" she asked, "What're you waiting for?"

Jax sighed and stood up, dusting himself off almost casually. "Give me that stick," he said, snatching it from Violet's hand. Breaking it over his knee and tossing the remains over his shoulder, he took a deep breath, a quick mutter of "We're all going to die", and then raced out, his tail streaking behind him.

Violet was left, staring at the group as Jax body-slammed right into the back of a Rocket just as he reached for a PokeBall, blowing a long stream of fire through the air at a newly-released Grimer and Magnemite. A Vulpix leapt at him, sending him tumbling along the ground past Zeeg, still wearing his mask, who gawked in horror from behind the eyeslits. Growling, the Pikachu flipped back onto her feet as her victim threw her off, cheeks crackling violently as she released a vicious spear of lightning into the air.

With her friends fighting, Violet's head snapped to and fro as she set out to do what she had intended to in the first place: find Eko. In the mess of flying fur and fire, it was hard to make out just about anything, whether it be friend or foe. Shading her eyes from the glaring flashes of lightning and fire, Violet shuffled about, her eyes swiveling back and forth.

Sparks lit up the arena and shouting filled the air with the roars of the Pokemon, which grew all the more frenzied as Rikki continued to rampage, being the most aggressive out of the fighters. Zeeg had disappeared from the battlefield altogether, likely to hide, ducking out of the way just as Violet recognized a familiar, blue speck hovering uncertainly away from one of the drills—

--until she was mercilessly swatted down by the very same Nidoking that Rikki had been tormenting before, the Zubat's body smacking the earth.

The beast was sporting several nicks in his plated body, and had a bloody nose, but was nevertheless lethal as it snatched the twitching Zubat off the ground, roaring uproariously into her face with such force it could've sent her flying if she hadn't been in his grip. Violet stood, petrified, as he pulled back his arm, ready to strike at the immobilized bat again—

--when she reacted instinctively, grabbing a rock from off the ground and chucking it as hard as she could at the Nidoking, nailing him right in the eye. He roared in pain and stumbled back, releasing Eko, who sagged like a rag doll onto the ground, clutching his eye with its claws. Before the beast could recover, Violet, still guided by her own instincts, rushed forward without hesitation, sweeping Eko into her arms and retreating, the slippery heels of her sandals sending pebbles flying.

By the time the Nidoking forced both its eyes open, one bloodshot and oozing syrupy tears, Violet had vanished, leaving it to screech in fury and storm about, throwing its head back and forth in search of its assailant. Hiding behind the coverage of one of many pillars dotting the area, Violet heaved, clutching Eko a bit tighter. That was a close one, but they still weren't out of the hot water, yet.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are…" the Nidoking murmured, a sadistic smile on his wrinkly, bloodstained muzzle, "Come out to play, little girl…"

The Zubat squirmed and moaned in her grip, wiggling past the digits so she could cling to Violet's arm, coattails sagging uselessly behind her. "Owwww…" she groaned, clutching at her head with a wing, "What just happened?"

"Eko!" Violet exclaimed joyfully, pulling Eko into a bone-breaking hug, "Thank God I found ya, girl! What the HELL did you think you were doing?! You scared the ever-loving crap out of me, you—"

She was unable to continue, opting instead to continue to embrace Eko, who squealed and struggled in her grip. "OW! Hey, I can't breathe! Stop it!"

"Erk, right," Violet hissed, removing Eko from her chest and holding her out, "Are you okay? You had everybody worried…"

"Alright?" Eko asked accusingly, "Far from it—I've got a headache the size of the mountain, the world's spinning, and—"

"SHH!" Violet hushed her, clamping her hand against Eko's mouth, muffling any further complaints. "Listen, you need to be QUIET. I've saved you, but that Nidoking is still over there, and we don't have anything to stop him, unless you—"

"I'm not going after that thing again!" Eko snapped, having weaseled her way out of Violet's grip again, "Not after what happened! If I had my slingshot right about now…"

The moment she said that, Violet spied the barest glimpse of a twinkle out of the corner of her eye, flashing before her vision like dancing sparks. Blinking away the encroaching lights that flickered within her head, she squinted, trying to identify the glowing object protruding from the wall beside her.

A rock.

A double-pronged rock, shaped vaguely like a 'Y'.

Violet smiled wickedly, glancing down at a smirking Eko. Perfect.

--

Meanwhile, Zeeg heaved and wheezed, antennae flat against his head from behind his heavy, wooden mask as he pressed himself closer to the rock he had ducked behind. Incapable of doing much of anything besides listening to the whizzing, cracking, and swishing noises he could hear behind him, he impaled his teeth into his lower lip and hunched over, wings drooping.

As fearful as he was for his life, he couldn't help but feel completely and utterly useless as his friends—or the closest things he had to them—fought for someone they barely knew without any regrets, without any hesitation or fears. Hell, even HE had barely known them, and yet they risked their lives for him.

And to repay them, he couldn't even get off his own ass, summon whatever strength he had in his scrawny body, and fight alongside them.

A loud growl alerted him to a silhouette towering high above him.

Oh great. Not again.

Instead of a Nidoking, this time, it was its female cousin—a slightly more diminutive creature, covered with far less spikes and sporting a scaly, navy hide, its round ears adjusting and tilting curiously atop its head. A Nidorina, far less intimidating, but nevertheless bigger and stronger than he was, the red R on its arm baring protuberantly into his crimson eyes.

"Lookit what we have here," she purred, claws digging into the rock, "A cute little bug for me to squish."

"Uh…" Zeeg started, "Listen, lady, this isn't the best of time. So if I can be off on my merry way…"

Before he could even take a step, she had pounced in front of him, destroying all chances of escaping. "I think not," she growled, nudging at his mask with her nose, a smirk on her face. "While you're hardly a threat, killing you would certainly be a start for all your friends have done—"

Zeeg glared at her indignantly, leaping to his feet, wings flared and buzzing angrily behind him. "HEY!" he protested, "Whaddya mean by 'not a threat', huh?!"

"Isn't it obvious?" asked the Nidorina, shoving him back onto his rear with one casual, offhanded push.

Although utterly silent and defiant, all Zeeg could do was glare up at the Nidorina as her skin began to ripple, thousands of pinpricks rising from her flesh like churning, sharp mountains. Rolling her shoulder blades and arching her back, every last one of the spikes slanted, directing themselves toward the bug, whose angry expression faded away into stunned shock.

'_Oh great,'_ Zeeg thought miserably, '_Barely two hours into this 'adventure', and I'm already going to die._

'…_Am I?'_

It was do or die now. Either be a coward and wait for death, or leap to his feet and fight for his life.

The choice was all his.

His thoughts were once more interrupted as a fireball whizzed overhead, briefly lighting up the area around both him and the Nidorina who had cornered him with brilliant, orange light. Freezing up, the Nidorina's body shifted ever so slightly, the spikes fluctuating as her eyes shifted upward, following the blast of flame—

--she didn't get the chance to look back down at her 'harmless' captive just before a thick, elongated stinger sunk into her body. Gagging and wheezing, she swayed, stumbling, the spikes on her body jutting out as far as they could go reflexively. Beneath her, Zeeg grit his teeth and shut his eyes as he felt something fiery and red-hot flow through his veins and through his stinger, spilling into the Nidorina's body like acid. Letting out one last groan, her eyes rolled back into her head as the poison already took effect, making her slump atop Zeeg, who flailed and tried to push her off.

Scraping her to the side and taking a deep breath, Zeeg flicked back his mask, wiped some sweat that had congregated on his damp forehead, and craned his body around, watching Jax release a stream of flame into a Grimer, its poisonous form bubbling beneath the intense heat.

Forcing a smile and snapping his mask back over his face, Zeeg turned about and raised his arms high over his head, lances gleaming, and let out a bestial battle cry before he charged.

It was his turn now.

--

"GAH!" A loud cry of pain echoed high and mighty over the room, vaguely tomboyish in tone, yet distinctly female in its pitch.

Rikki went flying back, her side smacking harshly into the hide of a rough stone jutting out of the ground. Slumping slightly and coughing, the Pikachu rolled to the side just in time, enough to dodge a sharp blow that nearly snapped the rock in two. The Nidoqueen following her roared aloud in frustration, chasing after her once more with head bowed and claws bared, ready to crack Rikki over its knee like a frail toothpick.

"Oh shit," Rikki snapped under her breath, scrambling to her feet, "OH SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT."

In the face of Rikki's rare burst of panic, the Nidoqueen merely snarled, a twisted smile engraved on her muzzle. Stampeding behind her, fists raised and ears laid flat against her skull, the Nidoqueen barreled at Rikki, nearly grazing the Pikachu once or twice as she maneuvered sharply out of the way. Rolling along the ground, Rikki leapt to her feet, nearly thanking God aloud when a stream of fire shot right at the Nidoqueen, colliding straight with her and scorching her thick, plated armor.

Not too far away, Jax snorted and reared back, the unconscious body of a Magnemite clutched in his claw. "Didn't your mother ever tell you that it isn't nice to pick on a lady?" he asked sardonically, smirking against all instincts. Frowning, he then mumbled audibly, "As questionable as her gender may be."

"I HEARD THAT, YOU DIPSHIT!" Rikki cursed from on the ground, shaking her fist at him.

Before any of the group could react, the Magnemite was thrown across the arena, clocking the Nidoqueen painfully in the forehead. Rearing back, unintentionally exposing her undefended chin, another fireball shortly followed it, nailing the Nidoqueen right in the jaw in a flurry of smoke and ashes. Taking full advantage of the Nidoqueen's vulnerability, Rikki, letting out a growl of fury, flung herself at the Nidoqueen, delivering a swift uppercut to her severely burned jaw.

The massive, dinosaur-like creature dropped like a boulder, making the radius surrounding her tremble as her spine-coated back hit the ground. Standing triumphantly over the unconscious body of the Nidoqueen, Rikki casually cracked her knuckles and, after administering a rather harsh kick to her side, stomped off bitterly.

"Bitch," she grumbled, turning away.

She was obviously expecting for things to be smooth sailing from then on, but she was sadly mistaken. Rikki barely made it a step before a thick curtain of shadows draped over her form from the hovering body of a vaguely spherical, hideous, purple creature, covered in smoldering boils and humps. A devious gleam in its beady eyes, it exuded a thick blast of fog from its body before letting out a deep, guttural laugh, its belly vibrating as it carried the sound.

Rikki's jaw dropped. Great. Just great. How long were these things going to keep coming? Judging by the retreating Rockets, there weren't much left, but it felt like every time one Pokemon went down, there was two more to take its place. As much as Rikki hated to admit it, her stamina was starting to deplete, and she knew that the same was happening to Jax, who heaved and swore quietly under his breath as he was encircled by another coat of mist from an identical Koffing.

"How many of these guys ARE there?!" Rikki demanded, exasperated, forcing another jolt of lightning through her fists. "I'm getting TIRED of this."

"I doubt they're going to answer that," Jax said, quickly dodging a body slam from the nearest Koffing, and weaving out of the way of a violet-hued, pinstriped serpent. "Where the hell is Violet, anyway?! She should've found Eko by now!"

Their question was finally answered in the form of a gravelly howl, and an exclamation of what sounded like "LEEEEEEROY…"

One of the Koffings reeled and careened uncontrollably in the air, beady eyes rolling and mouth lolling dizzily open. Before it could recover, another invisible bombardment slammed it to the opposite side, knocking it backward—only this time, Jax could vaguely see the twinkle of a sharp, spiky crystal as it bounced off of the Koffing's hide.

Another cry, this one a wail of "JEEEEEEEEEEEEEENKINS!"

His eyes instinctually followed the trail of crystals as they flew from out of nowhere, pelting the remaining Koffing and nailing the Ekans with such force it dropped, unconscious, on the spot. Among the twinkling maelstrom of precious stones and comet-like stars, he could vaguely see something—a silhouette of sorts, swiftly loading what appeared to be a homemade slingshot, fashioned out of an unusually-shaped stone and a rubber band, its ammo passed to it by another shadow perched on its shoulder. The Koffing, suffering from thick spots of bruises all over its body, shrieked in horror as it struggled to evade the onslaught of pebbles heading its way before it, too, was sent plummeting to the ground, rolling off to the side like a useless boulder.

Stepping out from the shadows from behind the dazed, incapacitated form of a Nidoking, Violet flashed Jax her finest, brace-encrusted smile alongside Eko, who waved jubilantly to him with her free wing. The girl's hat was gone, being used as a storage system for the piles of sparkling jewels stacked within it as it hung freely around her neck by its cord.

"Hey, Jaxxie," Eko said flirtatiously, "I told you before I'd protect you."

"Right on, girl," Violet cheered, the pair exchanging a triumphant high-five.

"Wonderful turn of events," Jax said from on the ground, having tumbled there in his panic to escape his enemies, "Absolutely wonderful. Too bad you're a bit LATE."

Violet and Eko looked at each other, before turning their gazes back to Jax. "…So?" Violet asked weakly, dipping her hand back within her hat and retrieving another, particularly sharp piece of bejeweled ammunition, "I'm here, aren't I? And I'm more than ready to kick some ass, thank you. Just watch this, lover boy."

While Jax was left to chew on Violet's none-too-affectionate nickname, the girl outstretched her arm; pulling back the band as far as it could go, pinched between two fingers. Mismatched eyes darted to and fro, searching for an appropriate target—flickering from Pokemon to Pokemon in the dervish of chaos, but all of them were moving so fast that it was hard to choose one that wouldn't jeopardize hitting one of her own teammates. At long last, someone fell into her sights—a Nidorino, a slightly more diminutive form of a Nidoking, and the cousin of the Nidorina.

Smirking evilly to herself, Violet released the rubber band, launching the crystal in the direction of the unfortunate Pokemon. Cleaving through the air at heightened speeds, it seemed like it was about to strike the Nidorino right in the side…

If it weren't for the poorly-timed interception of a Magneton—what was essentially a pyramid-shaped formation of a triad of Magnemites. With a resounding clang, the crystal glanced off of its iron surface, ricocheting through the air with all the speed of a bullet right back at Violet.

"HIT THE DECK!" Violet exclaimed, dropping to the ground, nearly knocking Eko off of her.

Although startled and confused, the group, fortunately, managed to catch the sound of the crystal bouncing off of its target, and just before it could come its way, flung themselves out of the way. Soaring past, the crystal, now just a shining blur, collided with the glistening surface of a pillar behind them, and bounced off of it once more in the direction of a Grimer. Yelping, the creature squirmed out of the way, just as another one of its teammates managed to dodge the incoming projectile, the crystal rebounding again and again off of every surface it smacked into like a ping-pong ball.

With a shrill, violent whistling noise, it soared over Violet's head, making the bangs of her vibrant blue hair whip about. For a moment, it seemed as though the crazed, crisscrossing adventure of the crystal would last forever as it sent every Pokemon and human sprawling, forcing one or two to hit the ground and protect their heads with their arms in case the projectile happened to take a swan dive and impale them…

…that was, until it went flying into the air, smashing into one of the upper stalactites in a rain of glittery shards, floating harmoniously. Violet stared up at it in horror, watching each speck drift to the ground, and down in the smirking face of one of the Rockets as he dusted his hat free of shining dust. "You have a lot of spunk, kid," he said, lifting one of his PokeBalls toward Violet's face from beside his growling Nidorino, "But too bad you're a lousy shot."

"I still have more ammo, you know!" Violet retorted, laughing maniacally as she casually extended her hand toward a very nervous-looking Eko, "Hand me the next rock, Eko."

"Uh, Violet…" Eko started cautiously, fidgeting, "I really hate to be the bearer of bad news and all, but…"

Much to Violet's horror, Eko pointed to the ground, where the entire mound of crystals once cradled in Violet's hat had spilled over the earth in a shining carpet of shards. Jaw dropping, Violet spent a good few seconds letting her gaze linger on it, fear sinking deep within her body, until she was smacked out of her trance by the sound of a heavy footstep, and Zeeg's scratchy meep.

The Rockets' Pokemon, albeit bruised and battered, slowly advanced on them, eyes gleaming threateningly and blazing with bloodlust with each step, float, or slither. Those which hadn't been knocked unconscious slowly rose to their feet, shaking their heads clear of lethargy, eyes shifting back into focus as they landed squarely on their once-tormentors. Snarls, growls, and grumbles wafted bitterly into the air from every disgruntled form, eyes of all colors locking squarely, unshakingly, on Violet and the group.

"Oh shit," Zeeg said, trying to inconspicuously shift away from the bludgeoned body of a purple, whiskered, rat-like creature.

Jax snarled as he leapt away from a much larger, rounder rat, smoke starting to billow in vapory wisps from his nostrils. The Raticate before him lunged once, teeth clacking in the air where Jax's chest originally was—obviously intending to rip him apart as he thrashed his head about. His scaly back slammed, full-force, into Violet's with one, final step, Rikki joining him on the opposite end. Rikki, despite her exhaustion, was still trying to force ripples of electricity out of her quivering body, but only succeeded in making the air around her waver—and nothing more. Jax knew perfectly well that he didn't have the energy either to launch another fireball at the advancing group of enraged Pokemon, though as he saw the smug, approving looks of the observing Rockets, he felt sorely tempted to try one last time, just to see the looks on their faces.

Violet would've scrambled for the askew pile of crystals if it weren't for the sudden presence of an Arbok looming before her, stretching its hooded body high over her diminutive form of four-foot-eight. "Nice snakey," Violet stammered, pushing her body a bit closer to Jax's, "Goooooood snakey. Don't bite Violet. Violet doesn't taste good. Really. I've tried before. I—"

_CRACK._

Violet's ear pricked curiously. A great deal of the group stopped in their tracks, staring around for the source of the loud, resonating sound. There was another, similar sound, much more prominent than before, and booming enough to make the entire cavern shudder uncontrollably. Every head in the room peered up suspiciously at the vibrating ceiling, stalactites quaking in their holsters, pebbles raining from the ceiling—

Over the distance, down the cavernous tunnels that branched out of the vicinity, Violet could hear thousands of dull, clapping noises, growing closer and closer, making the hall react all the more violently. Violet stepped away from Jax, eyes wide, ears twitching beneath the pounding cacophony. The source was approaching quickly; it would break through any second—

--and it did. The first indication was a tiny, winged creature, flanked on all sides by ten of its shadowy duplicates. They were multiplying by the second, escalating rapidly with each swift beat of the group's wings, leaping through the dozens into numbers immeasurable. A great sea of them poured out with one, conglomerated roll of thunder, swiping and cleaving through the air with bladed wings. Light-blue bodies streaked beneath the crystalline lights, circling through the air like buzzing, zigzagging hornets. The Rockets'—and Violet's group's—eyes all widened (once more with the exception of Eko, who just watched in absolute wonder), incredulous, shocked.

That was, until the pandemonium stopped enough for the first creature among the pack to swoop down, and dive-bomb right into the nearest Rocket. The unfortunate man yelled in surprise as he was knocked off-kilter, his back bombarded by a cannonball-forced barrel into his side by another creature. One last creature spiraled down, cuffing him in the head—and he fell, hitting the ground unceremoniously in a crumpled heap.

As though taking this finalized, almost mute 'thud' as a signal, hell broke loose.

There was a shriek from the group, not loud enough to penetrate the storm of wingbeats, but it was apparently just enough to be heard by its companions. It was followed up by one, ultimate, shrill cry from the rest—a terrible, rumbling sound, enough to make several of the Pokemon recoil, guarding their sensitive ears, and make Violet and her posse nearly drop to their knees. It was then, though, that Violet was finally able to spot out their leader, and what they all were:

Zubats. Hundreds of them.

And when this revelation came, they attacked.

It was total, unquestionable chaos. Jet-like blurs of shades of turquoise whizzed helter-skelter, grazing heads, shoulders, battering many an unlucky person across the face with broad sweeps of their wings. The air was filled with shrill screams and blue streaks like a sheet of noisy thunderclouds, hellfire raining down upon every person in the form of diving, biting creatures. Several of them instantly latched onto their prey, sinking their teeth into the flesh, scales, or fur of their victims. Some opted to simply clock the Rockets and their Pokemon with their bodies. Others, however, swerved about, thoroughly confusing them with their revolving dervishes.

"Hit the deck!" Zeeg exclaimed, dropping to the ground with his bladed arms folded over his head.

It took Violet a moment for this command to register, but, snatching the dumbstruck Eko off of her shoulder, she followed him shortly, joined by the rest of the group. "What the hell is going on?!" Rikki demanded, keeping her voice loud enough to pierce over the crescendo of screeches.

There was a very tense pause from Jax's end as he uncomfortably watched a Rocket fall, likely from a rather harsh strike across the forehead, as the blister flared on his forehead testified. "I… I don't know," Jax admitted, too stunned to be shamefaced about this sudden lapse in his knowledge.

"What?!" Violet yelled, "But you're supposed to be the smart one!"

Eko said nothing. She was too busy scrutinizing every blur, wiggling her way out of Violet's grip to back away from her. Too distracted by the havoc, Violet kept her head low and her arms shielding her head, hat still dangling lopsidedly off of her neck by its cord.

Much to Eko's eternal surprise, her back was greeted with a sudden collision with another, significantly larger form, which seemed to magically appear behind the rest of the group. A pair of strong wings rested protectively on her shoulders, pulling her close. Craning her head over her shoulder, Eko's ears flattened at the sight of a familiar form. "Mom?!" Eko blurted.

"Come with me!" Sarari ordered, her loud voice gathering the attention of the rest of the troupe, "Come!"

Rikki glanced reluctantly at a dumbfounded Violet. "Oh, come on," Rikki finally said coldly, glaring back at Sarari, "Why should we do whatever you want after your little display of bitchery before, huh?"

"Uh, Rikki?" Zeeg announced nervously as a Rocket fell beside him, "I don't think this is the time nor the place to start this!"

"For once, Zeeg's right," Jax conceded, "Let's just follow her before this gets even worse."

Violet said nothing. Snatching Rikki and adjusting her hat with her free hand (the other still clutched her homemade slingshot), Violet climbed to her feet, keeping her back hunched so the Zubats acrobatically sailed overhead. Occasionally, they were joined by their evolved forms of Golbats, but despite their larger stature, they were somehow able to dodge the group as they stumbled after Sarari. Eko clung to Sarari in her arms, mouth stretched wide in a high-pitched yell.

It, surprisingly, didn't take them long to find a relatively safe refuge, especially for Rikki, who, being the fastest out of all of them, was able to outrun all of them. Diving behind a particularly stocky pillar on the sidelines, Sarari pressed her back to the jewel-spiked stone, joined shortly by the rest. Violet gasped and slumped, hands on her hat and sweat rolling in great dollops down her forehead.

"Crap. Crap crap crap crap crap," Violet chanted, leaning back (and nearly losing her balance in the process).

However, Rikki wasn't as grateful as Violet was. Whirling around to face Sarari, Rikki folded her arms and straightened herself, looking as arrogant as possible from her small stature. "Well, look who's returned," she said spitefully. "I thought you were going to let us risk our necks out here while you spent your time moping."

Before Sarari could counter, Zeeg interjected with a curt, "Yeah, what's going on? I thought you didn't trust us."

"Leave my Mom alone, okay?" Eko said sharply from Sarari's grip, "She came back to save us, didn't she?"

Everyone fell silent for a moment, staring awkwardly about. _Well, okay, that is technically true_, their expressions begrudgingly attested. Still, Violet wasn't completely satisfied. "Eko's Mom—" she began.

"Sarari," Sarari corrected her with a surprisingly calm air.

"Sarari," Violet repeated, "What're you doing here?"

Sarari sighed and settled her daughter back on the ground with a final hug, looking sadly at them. "…I came to rescue you," she finally said, "Just like my daughter told you."

Violet inclined her head confusedly. Rikki's ears twitched in agitation, and looked as though she had swallowed something very unpleasant. Jax remained as open-minded as possible, while Zeeg just scuffed his bony foot against the ground. Eko merely glared at all of them until Violet spoke.

"But I thought you didn't trust us," Violet stated, trying to keep her voice even despite the sour memories beginning to resurface, "I thought you said we were no better than the Rockets."

Sarari didn't say anything at first, shifting her sunken, bruise-framed eyes away from the group. Although Violet could no longer see her expression, she could detect the nearly palpable waves spilling off of every pore of her body. It took Violet a moment to decipher it, but revelation hit her like a cannonball: guilt? Sarari was experiencing guilt? Violet wasn't sure whether to point and laugh triumphantly (something she was sorely tempted to do), or to apologize right away for whatever reason.

"…I misjudged all of you," Sarari finally spoke, startling everybody the moment the final word departed her mouth.

Rikki nearly fell over in disbelief, but managed to right herself enough to slouch forward, eyebrows crooked together. "…Excuse me?" she asked incredulously.

"You heard me."

"Yeah, but I don't think I heard RIGHT," Rikki said, sticking her pinky into her ear and massaging the insides gently. "Could you say that again? With feeling this time, please."

Prior to any other mocking comments that Rikki could spout out next, she was intercepted with a sharp blow in the back of her head by Jax's claw. "For once in your life, as difficult as it may be, shut the hell up," Jax said with a sigh, rubbing at his temples.

"I don't get it," Violet said, frowning slightly, as though the whole concept of Sarari admitting defeat was entirely foreign to her, "How could you—"

"I took what you said into account," Sarari continued, "And…" she gave a sigh of resignation, "You were right. You were willing to rescue my daughter despite all of those things I had said. I owe you all… every last one of you… an apology."

Finally turning her head back towards the group, exposing her eyes for what they were: permeated with sorrow, regret, despair, all meshed together in a malignant cloud of toxic, parasitic anguish. It was enough to strike Rikki with all the force of a—dare I say it—thunderbolt, silencing her immediately and forcing her to redirect her hazel globes to the suddenly very interesting sight of a sparkling grove of stones. Even Jax had been rendered sympathetic, though his expression concealed it quite effectively.

"So… I am sorry," Sarari said, gaze sinking to the ground.

"Mom…" Eko started, concerned, but Sarari continued.

"It was wrong for me to pass judgment on you all. All you were trying to do was to save us… even risking your own lives for us."

Sarari took another, deep breath, stifling what seemed like a choked sigh. Her sable eyes were glazed slightly with a thin layer of foggy moisture, but that was the only sign of any emotional weakness that betrayed her. "Please don't judge me. I was only looking out for my daughter…"

Jax looked strangely detached, much to Violet's confusion, but it was her who seemed the most understanding. Heterochromatic eyes shifting uncomfortably to the side beneath her tousled, beryl hair, the girl spoke, "…I see where you're coming from."

Sarari looked genuinely surprised for a split second, before relief washed over her and the tenseness in her body relaxed. "I know you just wanted the best for Eko, but…" Violet scraped some bangs out from her freckled face. "What you said was completely out of line. You called everyone my pets—" Violet gestured broadly towards Rikki, Jax, and Zeeg, "And you told me I wasn't any different from those Rockets."

By that point, Sarari looked almost heartbreakingly guilty, her ears plastered flat against her head. Eko rested her wings comfortingly on her side, being too small to reach her shoulder. "Mom…" she started again, noticing the downtrodden way Sarari looked at the pebble-laden floor.

As though building up to some dramatic conclusion, Violet took a deep breath, one nearly unheard in the uproarious flurry of wings in the background and the screeching of the Rockets. Slowly, a small, tentative smile materialized along Violet's lips, growing ever more confident as she spoke, "But, I for one forgive you. You came back after all, and with the rest of the colony…"

"It took some time to rally all of them," Sarari said, stroking her daughter's back, "But… we probably wouldn't have been able to catch them off-guard and stood a chance if you all hadn't picked off their numbers." She regarded the fallen Rockets with a spiteful sweep of her gaze, darting from body to body.

"Thanks for giving credit where credit's due," Violet said, burying her hands in the pockets of her Electabuzz-emblazoned pants. "This wouldn't have been possible if it weren't for all my friends." Violet jerked her thumb back towards the group, all of which seemed individually surprised that they had been referred to as such. "'Cos, you know, I can't breathe fire or shoot electricity or any of that stuff.

"And I never will be able to, which really sucks. But the point is that I forgive you. You know better now, right?" Violet offered her a resplendent, braces-encrusted smile. "At least, I do." Violet turned around on her heel, the undersides of her florescent pink sandals squeaking into the rubble. Spreading her arms wide, she looked to everyone imploringly, saying, "Come on, guys. Do you forgive Sarari?"

Nobody spoke, the only sounds coming from them the inaudible shifting of their heels against the dirt. Zeeg coughed into what compensated for his wrist. For a moment, Sarari's ears fell back once more, her expression sinking along with it.

Then, much to her surprise, Zeeg raised his spear-like hand, using the other to flip the mask still fastened over his face over his back. His expression was awkward, yet shockingly sympathetic. "Eh, what the heck," he said, slowly regaining his composure, "You came back. You're not so bad."

Following shortly after, Jax raised his own claw, the slight beginnings of a smirk playing at the corner of his lips. "For once in the short period I've known Zeeg, he's right. We would've been screwed ten times over if you hadn't come with reinforcements."

Sarari's ears perked back up, her eyes positively wide with alarm. Eko's ears swiveled upright, her massive mouth curving into a delighted smile as she clung excitedly to her mother. All eyes shifted to Rikki, the remaining Pokemon, who gazed at them with a sour look on her face. "…"

Violet gently gestured to Rikki, as though encouraging her. Jax peered at her from over his shoulder. Eko leaned her body to the side so to get a better look at her. Zeeg blinked.

Finally, with a sigh of resignation, Rikki's hand also rose into the air. "Fine," she said, brushing some berry-variegated bangs out from her bright hazel eyes. "You guys win. I forgive you, Sarari. Just know that I'm not ANYBODY'S pet, you got that?"

Sarari chuckled from around an emboldened, ecstatic smile. "Of course."

Violet clasped her hands together, fingers furling around one another. "So it's settled!" she said, "Now all that's left is Eko."

Eko seemed slightly shocked by this, but she quickly realized that she, too, had been in a way just as offended by her mother's outbursts. Sarari looked down at her daughter, face neutral. This time, Violet didn't extend her hands to Eko; they merely held her hat before her chest almost bashfully, the cord looped around one wrist.

Suddenly, Eko gently took Sarari's wing in one hand, laying a soft peck on the membrane. "I forgive you, Mom," she said tenderly, looking adoringly up at her mother with nothing but affection in her otherwise indiscernible facial features, "I forgive you."

And behind them, as though to punctuate that very moment, the darting flurry of Zubats let out one final, continuous note, one of victory, one of success, as the final Rocket fell among his comrades.

---

Sunlight beamed through the glistening catacombs of the cavern's alternate exit, spilling through every crack and groove cracking the layers of luminous stone like thousands of tiny, tenuous spotlights. Dazzling clusters of light flashed and twinkled off of the surface of the ancient walls of the cavern, a stark contrast to the barely-highlighted silhouettes congregated in the largest of the chambers before the exit. The hundreds of Zubats had all taken their perches wherever they could find it, from within hollows in the walls from dangling from the ceiling to simply resting on the ground, where the majority of them rested, forming an enormous crescent encircling the heroes who had rallied them all together.

Standing at the head of the flock of Zubats was an immense, proud, purple creature, vaguely resembling a normal Zubat, but with elongated, tapered ears and four wings—the secondary pair belonging on the lower half of its strong body. Unlike her smaller brethren, she actually had eyes—cold, appraising, but somewhat dulled with age. The majority of her fur had also been bleached slightly with streaks of grey, predominantly circling around the edges of the creature's eyes and back. Elderly, no doubt.

It took Violet a quick scan of her PokeDex previously to learn what this unknown species was. It was a Crobat, hailing from a distant land where many of its kind also resided.

The Crobat, the leader of the group, approached the group with a weak smile on her withered face. "I… we… don't know how to thank you all enough."

Violet returned the smile, her face positively beaming. "Hey… it was no problem. We probably would've been dead meat if it weren't for you guys, though," she admitted, rubbing the back of her head.

"Either way," the colony leader said, "We wouldn't have been able to attack the Rockets if you all hadn't weakened them before. If you all hadn't done that, then…"

She shuddered for a moment, but that brief moment of weakness vanished once she gestured for two, small Golbats to carry an indistinct object out from the back of the crowd. The pair of bats carted the object up to the front, where they reverently laid it out before the group. "We don't have much to offer. But please take this as a token of our appreciation."

Violet kneeled briefly, picking up the item from the ground and holding it up to the light to properly glimpse its features. Behind her, Jax stared at it critically, managing to keep his expression neutral despite his disbelief.

'_Oh, great,'_ Jax wanted to say, _'It's a rock.'_

"I know it's not much," the Crobat said with a sad smile, "But please, take it. We sincerely hope that it will be of any assistance in your journey."

Violet was completely silent as she weighed the bulky stone in her hands, turning it over to examine its very detail. Engraved lightly in its side was the outline of an indistinct, unidentified creature of sorts, faded from age and encrusted with a great deal of dust, but with an almost amber sheen to its ancient hide. Assuming the worst, the members of the Zubat colony all individually exchanged worrisome glances, before their leader spoke up again.

"Is it not to your liking…?"

That was when Violet broke out in a wide, toothy, somewhat charmingly lopsided grin. "I love it," she said, happily cuddling the rock close to her. "I'll take great care of it, I promise. I'll feed it and water it and love it and cuddle it and…"

Before she could deteriorate into even more senseless babble, Violet managed to snap herself out of it and respectfully said, "Thank you."

This seemed to satisfy the Zubat group, who didn't notice Rikki wrinkle her nose after smelling the stench of age on the old rock. Jax slapped her lightly on the back of the head as Eko approached her mother. Both chiropterans looked at each other adoringly before Eko spread her wings wide and embraced Sarari, allowing the elder Golbat to cradle her close.

"Are you sure that it'll be alright for me to go with Violet…?" Eko asked. She certainly figured that there would be no point to inquiring her now, after all that had happened, but she felt obligated to.

Sarari nodded after a moment of hesitation. "I don't like it. But your friends have proven to be a capable group, having saved us all," she said, then looked to Violet. "Please take care of my daughter. And bring my husband back home."

Violet smiled, then saluted her wearily. "I'll take care of her, ma'am," Violet said. "You don't need to worry."

Sarari returned the smile, albeit with a significant amount of confidence. "Thank you," she said kindly. "Thank you so much."

Giving Sarari an eager thumbs-up, Violet turned to her friends. Rikki quirked her ears individually and looked to her somewhat inquisitively. Jax raised an eyebrow. Eko grinned exuberantly. Zeeg awkwardly smirked, his previous bravado having been restored after the crazed battle which had ensued previously.

A silent confirmation agreed among them, Violet extended an arm toward the passage behind them. "Shall we go? We have a long way to go till Cerulean City" – she snapped open her PokeDex, tucking the arm under her rock, and observed the holographic map projected onto the screen before closing it again – "and we should probably get going."

"In a moment, Violet," Eko said.

Violet made no comment, but nodded understandingly and stepped back so Eko could approach her mother. The two stood there for a moment before Eko spread her wings wide and flung them around her mother, embracing her deeply. Both bats squeezed each other tightly like it would be the final time in their life—and lord knew when they would be reunited, so this was completely comprehendible.

"I love you, Mom," Eko cooed.

Squeezing Eko a little closer to her, Sarari looked down at her daughter, eyes swelling briefly with tears. Disregarding them with a close of her eyelids, she murmured, "I love you too, Eko…

I love you too."

Violet, Jax, Zeeg, and Rikki watched the tearful goodbye with mixed reactions. Rikki rolled her eyes and looked elsewhere, though it was likely to conceal her slight smile. Jax's smirk had a twinge of warmth to it, for once. Zeeg sniffed slightly and rubbed at his eyes with the wrist-like joint attaching his spear-hand to his arm as though checking his large, compound red eyes for tears. Meanwhile, Violet's reaction was much more dramatic: the girl was obviously holding back tears, her heterochromatic eyes gleaming with barely-contained water.

Rubbing her eyes with the back of her speckled hand, Violet finally walked over to Eko, who broke the hug between herself and her mother. Picking Eko up, Violet set the Zubat on her head with a partially forced smile, still sniffing audibly. "Alright, this is getting mushy," Rikki muttered under her breath. "Ready to go, guys?"

Ears lying flat, Eko turned her head toward her mother, who gave her an encouraging smile.

Then she looked to the colony, who all smiled as well.

Without realizing it, Eko broke out into a wide grin as she looked to Rikki boldly. "Yeah," she said, "I think I am."

It was then that the group left, ambling out the cave with their faces to the steadily widening light flowing into the maw of the cavern. Five pairs of eyes narrowed against the orange, bodies slowly vanishing into the light as they walked further and further away, soon becoming silhouettes barely visible in the backdrop of golden fire. Beyond there laid the outside world. The road to Cerulean City, and the next badge.

Eko could hardly wait as she fidgeted atop her customary position on Violet's head. _Don't worry, everyone, _Eko thought, smiling against all natural instincts, _I'll see the world. I'll invent for them._

_And I'll bring Dad back home._

They were gone, leaving the Zubat colony staring into the glorious glow.

---  
…_Elsewhere…_

"Ma'am."

The creature's icy eyes glanced up from the hypnotizing movements of the swinging ornament that was resting on the surface of her desk, one claw poised in the midst of lining up another collision between the orbs hanging from the miniature rack constructing its body. Almost the moment those unnaturally cold eyes departed from their main focus the young, black-clad man standing in the doorframe froze up altogether, his Adam's apple bobbing in his throat as he forced down the lump that had swollen up in the back of his esophagus. Sighing, the felid creature sitting on the other side of the desk partially occupying the luxuriant, conservatively-decorated room braced her head lazily in her hand, cocking her ears to the side.

"What is it now?" she asked gloomily, her voice betraying the dangerous narrowness of her eyes. The man knew that gaze very well, it was the precursor to many a violent and explosive outburst.

"M-Ma'am…" he stammered, his courage gone, "The mission in Mount Moon has been compromised."

Immediately the creature leapt to her feet, slamming her hands on her desk with such force the various tchotchke festooning it rattled and swayed precariously. "WHAT?!" she demanded, practically screaming.

The man confessed everything. He told the creature all that had occurred in Mount Moon, about how their agents stationed within its catacombs had been dispatched so mysteriously. And the creature listened, her murderous expression not softening in the slightest.

Electrified silence passed between the two.

Finally, the creature waved it off.

"It's no matter," she said trivially. Slowly her claws withdrew into her fingertips until they were the size of a normal human's fingernails. Sighing, the shadow-creature massaged her temple, turning away. "We still gleaned some fossils and some Pokemon from the cave, so it wasn't a total loss.

"However…"

The man standing in the doorway gulped loudly as the creature turned back around, feathery ears pivoted upright. "Inform our agents in Cerulean City of their approach and tell the rest of the agents within the mountain to escape before the police invade."

There was no hesitancy. The man bowed slightly, lowering his head in an acquiescent, respectful gesture. "Yes, ma'am," he said quickly, then ran off.

Not looking back even once.

She watched him leave suspiciously. With the man safely out of sight, the creature sighed and spun her chair around so she could face the light pouring in through the glass of the enormous bay window. Orange light, steadily turning pale saffron as the sun escalated in the purple-streaked sky, illuminated a cat-like face adorned with a slit-shaped gemstone on the creature's forehead, warmly suffusing the room. Sighing in frustration, the creature climbed from her notably oversized, luxuriant chair, walking over to the window and setting her claw on the hot glass, displaying the carmine 'R' scrawled on the back of her hand.

First she had to explain to her employer why the foray in Mount Moon had been terminated so abruptly. Then she had to formulate another excuse as to why so many of their agents had been abandoned in the mountain, likely to be picked up by the police.

Some of their agents infested the police network, corrupting the system from the inside-out. They could be coerced into forging an alibi for the arrested Rocket grunts, maybe even release them. It probably wasn't worth it, however. They knew the price of failure.

They all did.

The creature sighed again, walking to the door of her office.

So much to do, so little time.

**T**o** B**e** C**ontinued…


	13. An Important Announcement!

Originally I was going to upload the first chapter as a surprise, but I figured I'd make an announcement so that way you all know I'm not dead.

I haven't forgotten about Violet Version. It's just that I've become increasingly dissatisfied with the series – with looking at my old, inconsistent characterization and many other things. Violet Version was unexpectedly developing at every turn, and it had an unpredictability that I could not handle. However, I still love the characters, I still love writing it, and I still love that you guys are enjoying it.

Which is why I am saying that Violet Version is going to be rewritten. It's going to be rewritten so it's even bigger and better – the same characters will be there, just improved. Violet, Jax, Zeeg, Rikki, Eko, and a few others… they're all going to be there. However, they have been noticeably tweaked, so it might come as a surprise to anyone who is still interested. Their personalities are roughly remaining the same, just with different motivations and substantially different histories.

I should note that I'm trying very hard to figure out a way that it won't just be a monotonous reboot of what had occurred before. I'm trying to mix things up and introduce new elements that will hopefully keep everyone entertained until I reach the truly new material. I'm also trying to fix what I feel were my failings prior to this re-envisioning.

I hope to be more consistent with my updates, but I can't promise anything. Right now, I just hope everyone will enjoy what I have planned. I hope everyone will love these characters even with their changes. I hope everyone will love the story.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed; I hope you all stick with me to the end. You guys are my fuel and my inspiration. Thank you. 3

See you at the first chapter, everyone!

-Sincerely,

Keaton the Black Jackal


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